Carnarvon books Valaris rig for Buffalo well

Oil and gas company Carnarvon Petroleum has contracted the Valaris JU-107 jack-up drilling rig for the Buffalo-10 drilling operations in waters offshore Timor-Leste.

Carnarvon signed a letter of intent for a rig to drill the Buffalo-10 well back in late June but did not reveal the name of the contractor.

In an update on Thursday, Carnarvon said that the drilling operations are expected to start once the rig has completed its current operations.

The rig is currently operating in the Timor Sea, around 300km from the Buffalo location, and is expected to be completing those operations in around 8 to 10 weeks time. Once these operations are complete, the rig will mobilise to the Buffalo location to start drilling the Buffalo-10 well.

The final well timing will be subject to securing the remaining drilling support services and equipment, and joint venture and regulatory approvals, all of which are well progressed.

Carnarvon Managing Director and CEO, Adrian Cook, said: “Having secured a rig that is currently in operation is hugely beneficial in terms of the direct continuation of drilling and associated services. The Carnarvon team has previous experience with this drilling unit as it drilled the transformational Dorado-1 discovery for Carnarvon in 2018. Carnarvon is looking forward to similar success for the Buffalo-10 well.

“The signing of the rig contract marks another significant milestone for the company as we move towards drilling and subsequent redevelopment of the Buffalo field. The Carnarvon team looks forward to working closely with Valaris to deliver the Buffalo-10 well safely and efficiently”.

Following a farm-out agreement from earlier this year, Carnarvon’s partner in the project is Advance Energy. The company met this funding requirement by raising the capital to acquire the interest and now has a 50 per cent in the project.

In a separate statement on Thursday, Advance said the completion of the rig’s current drilling operations is currently planned to occur between mid-October 2021 and mid-November 2021. Once these operations are complete, the rig will mobilise to the Buffalo location to start drilling the Buffalo-10 well.

The company also added that the final well timing will be subject to securing the remaining drilling support services and equipment, and joint venture and regulatory approvals, all of which are well progressed.

The Buffalo field was originally discovered in 1996 by BHP. The previous project was decommissioned in 2005 due to low oil prices and limitations on seismic processing capability to optimise well locations at that time.