Aker BP hires IKM for Alvheim work

Aker BP has awarded a frame agreement to IKM Cleandrill, a specialist mud recovery subsidiary of the IKM Group, for the provision of a mud recovery services during drilling on the Alvheim development in the North Sea.

IKM said that the deal is a three-year frame agreement for riserless closed loop mud recovery services.

The initial operations under this contract will be the production well drilling on the Alvheim development from the Transocean Arctic semi-submersible rig, with potential for additional exploration and development drilling.

This is the second contract in Norwegian waters in quick succession for IKM after it was awarded a contract from Wintershall for potential development drilling campaigns on the Maria field.

The company said it would use its Mud Recovery without Riser or MRR technology to undertake these services. MRR is a subsea pumping technology used during semi-submersible, drill-ship and jack-up drilling operations where drilling mud and cuttings are returned to the surface during the top-hole section of offshore wells. It also provides zero discharge environmental drilling capability.

Both shallow and deepwater versions of the MRR will be available through the contract and installed onto the rig in early 2017 to suit Aker BP’s specific requirements.

In related news, Aker BP announced on Thursday the start-up of production from Viper-Kobra discoveries, both of which are tied back to the Alvheim FPSO.