Furie jack-up rig on location

Furie Operating Alaska’s Randolf Yost jack-up rig is in position on site, stationed a few feet from the Julius R. platform, the production platform for the Kitchen Lights gas field offshore in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, Bruce Webb, Furie senior vice president, told Petroleum News in a May 11 email. On May 5 the rig left Homer, where it had been stationed since arriving in Cook Inlet, Webb said. After being towed by tug to the Julius R. platform, the rig had to be anchored to the seafloor and winched into position.

Furie is still finishing up some minor modifications to the rig, testing systems, having inspections carried out and loading materials such as fuel, water and drilling fluids, Webb said. Drilling will begin in about 30 days, he said.

Under Furie’s latest Kitchen Lights plan of operations, the company has said that it will complete two new development wells this year, and two more wells between April 2017 and October 2018. Furie also plans some new exploration drilling using the Randolf Yost jack-up.

Previously Furie has used the Spartan 151 jack-up rig for its Kitchen Lights drilling. However, the company has brought in the Randolf Yost, which is bigger and can be more safely cantilevered over the Julius R. platform. And, being bigger and more powerful than the Spartan 151, the Randolf Yost is capable of operating in deeper water and drilling deeper wells.

- ALAN BAILEY