AGR were contracted by PSE Kinsale Energy to provide full Well Management services for an exploration well to be drilled in the Celtic Sea, offshore Ireland.
This would be the first well to be drilled in Ireland under the recently updated Irish regulatory regime. The well was planned to intersect two gas targets with potential for pressure depletion. Logistical support was managed in country from a supply base in Cork, with all equipment mobilised from Aberdeen.
The Challenge
- Deliver the permitting requirements for the first well to be drilled under the recently updated Irish consents and permissions regime, including the first drilling Well Work Safety Case under the revised legislation
- Accelerated schedule – deliver all well planning, support rig contracting and conduct rig intake, services tendering and regulatory permitting in a 4 1/2 month window
- Offset review and risk assessment identified rig anchoring problems in hard seabed conditions, very firm top hole section, chert damage to drilling bits, losses in fractured carbonates and differential sticking in potentially depleted reservoirs.
- Well design so the well could be drilled as economically as possible yet retain sufficient contingency to address potential drilling issues.
The AGR Approach
- Working together with PSE Kinsale Energy (KEL) management, the Ocean Guardian was contracted in a short time frame. The existing relationship between AGR and Diamond Drilling contributed to a smooth contracting process
- BOP risk assessment, audit of management systems and key equipment were conducted as part of the rig intake programme
- AGR and PSE Kinsale Energy management worked together to establish good working relationships with the Irish statutory authorities, and to agree an approach to the challenging consents and permissions schedule
- A full set of service contracts was put in place in an accelerated time frame, by conducting a competitive tender using AGR’s master service agreement terms and conditions
- The well design implemented all the lessons learned from wells in the area, to optimise drilling speeds and reduce exposure to drilling 36” conductor hole in hard rock drilling conditions
- Anchors were pre-laid and pull-tested prior to rig arrival, thus removing this exposure from the critical path
- Logistics support was put in place at Cork and equipment mobilised from the UK
The Result
- A full set of detailed authority submissions were delivered in a tight time frame and consents were given
- The well was drilled in 33.7 days
- Saved +/- $3MM (14%) versus AFE despite 2.25 days additional scope
- All technical well objectives delivered
- 94% operational efficiency, only 0.52 days total NPT for the whole project
- No logistics related delays. Equipment demobilised, supply base cleared and equipment off-hire within 2 days of rig departing well location.
- Delivered a full set of service contracts that PSE Kinsale Energy can use for future well operations.
