Parker activates one arctic drill rig

Parker Drilling Co. has finally put one of its new Arctic Alaska Drilling Unit rigs to work on the North Slope.

Rig 273 has commenced drilling operations under terms of a five-year contract with BP, Parker said in a Dec. 12 press release.

“These are exciting times for our team,” said Gary Rich, Parker chief executive. “True to our heritage of ingenuity and determination, our team is successfully conquering the challenges of developing technological advances and high-performance resources for harsh arctic environments. We thank BP for working with us to ensure these AADU rigs meet our shared performance objectives for safety and efficiency and we look forward to continuing to work with BP to unlock the full potential of this promising region.”

Parker-built rigs 272 and 273 arrived on the North Slope about 16 months ago, in August 2011. Parker described them as a new and highly advanced class of drilling rig.

For reasons that remain somewhat mysterious, however, the rigs didn’t proceed to work.

In January, Parker disclosed that BP was holding it in default under a drilling contract for failure to supply “operationally ready” rigs by Dec. 31, 2011. Parker disagreed that a default had occurred.

In an August filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Parker said it and BP had amended the contract with respect to “new deadlines for commencement of operations.”

The second rig, 272, “remains on schedule for acceptance testing in 2013,” Parker’s Dec. 12 press release said.

Houston-based Parker is re-entering the Alaska market after an absence of several years.

Rig 273 has moved to Drill Site 2 in the BP-operated Prudhoe Bay oil field, Dawn Patience, spokeswoman for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., told Petroleum News on Dec. 12.

Patience provided this statement on Parker’s announcement that rig 273 had commenced drilling operations:

“Under Alaska’s current investment climate, BP needs to focus on opportunities that can improve our near-term Alaska business. Adding the Parker Drilling rig to our fleet advances efforts to accelerate light oil development at Prudhoe Bay and Milne Point.”

Another BP spokesperson said in August 2011 that the Parker rigs were part of BP’s effort to modernize its North Slope drilling fleet. The spokesman said the new rigs didn’t signify a drilling expansion for BP. Rather, they would replace aging rigs.

—Wesley Loy