As part of its program to re-invigorate the oil and gas fields of Alaska’s Cook Inlet, Chevron is considering the possibility of investing in one or two mobile rigs that could be moved between oil platforms in the inlet, Steve Wright, Chevron’s Alaska asset development manager, told a meeting of the Kenai Chapter of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance today.
Wright explained that this is a possible option for the replacement of some old drilling rigs on the platforms — apparently most of the platform rigs have been mothballed for several years. Chevron operations staff is currently assessing how much of the equipment on the Chevron’s aging Cook Inlet platforms can continue in use, Wright said.
“We’re looking at possibility of bringing in a flexible rig that we could move from platform to platform as our redevelopment efforts move ahead. The benefits of that are pretty substantial,” Wright said. Wright also said that the company might operate both a primary rig and a workover rig in this manner.
Petroleum News reported March 11 that Nabors is building a new lightweight land rig that Chevron will use onshore on the Kenai Peninsula before moving it to the North Slope for drilling in Chevron’s White Hill exploration block.
