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Two new Parker rigs arrive in Alaska Will work for Prudhoe Bay operator BP, which is aiming to modernize its North Slope drilling fleet, company spokesman says Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Barges carrying two new Parker Drilling Co. rigs have arrived on Alaska’s North Slope, a spokesman for BP told Petroleum News on Aug. 24.
The Parker-owned rigs will work for BP, and are part of the oil company’s effort to modernize its Slope drilling fleet, BP’s Steve Rinehart said.
It’s possible the rigs could be assembled, tested and ready to work in the upcoming winter drilling season, Rinehart said.
But he stressed the new rigs do not signify a drilling expansion for BP. Rather, they will replace other rigs that are showing their age.
“Our drilling program is essentially flat,” Rinehart said.
Doyon 25 debut BP operates the huge Prudhoe Bay field and a number of other fields on the North Slope.
The company no longer does exploratory drilling in Alaska, but its drilling contractors punch lots of development wells within Prudhoe and the other fields.
BP has been working toward a goal of a modern, more efficient, safer drilling fleet, Rinehart said.
On May 26, he said, Anchorage-based Doyon Drilling Inc. debuted its new rig 25, spudding a well on K pad on the west side of Prudhoe.
The Parker rigs came up from a construction yard in Vancouver, Wash.
Parker originally had hoped to make the 2010 summer sealift, but construction on the rigs wasn’t far enough along.
In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Houston-based Parker has described rigs 272 and 273 as “new-technology, high-efficiency land rigs designed to operate in the Alaskan environment” for its customer, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.
The SEC filings detail the enormous cost of the rigs, construction of which began in 2008. According to these filings, at least $230 million has been spent on the rigs thus far.
Liberty rig update Parker in 2009 shipped components of a giant new rig to the North Slope to drill ultraextended-reach wells for BP’s planned Liberty offshore oil development.
But thus far the rig hasn’t been put to work and remains essentially mothballed at BP’s Endicott field, from which the Liberty drilling will be attempted.
“We’re still conducting an engineering and design review of that rig,” Rinehart said.
Parker, in a quarterly report filed with the SEC on Aug. 5, provided further details on the Liberty rig construction project.
“In November 2010, our customer, BP, informed us that it was suspending construction on the project to review the rig’s engineering and design, including its safety systems,” the filing said.
The filing continues: “The Liberty rig construction contract expired on February 8, 2011 prior to completion of the rig. Before expiration of the construction contract, BP identified several areas of concern relating to design, construction and invoicing for which it asked us to provide explanations and documentation, and we have done so. Although we have provided BP with the requested information, we do not know when or how these issues will be resolved with our client. At this point, construction on the rig is incomplete, and it cannot be completed until BP determines to resume construction.”
The SEC filing adds that under a new consulting services agreement that took effect July 1, Parker is “assisting BP with technical support in a review of the rig’s design, the creation of a new statement of requirements for the rig, and the transition of documentation and materials to BP.”
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