Azinor hires TWMA ahead of Partridge spud

TWMA, a provider of drill cuttings and slop handling, management and treatment solutions, has been awarded a contract estimated to be worth around £1million with UKCS-focused E&P company, Azinor Catalyst.

The project, which starts in August 2017, will see TWMA provide drill cuttings containment and processing services on the Ocean Guardian rig in the Central North Sea. Azinor Catalyst has contracted the semi-submersible rig for the drilling of two wells in 2017. Anticipated spud of the Partridge exploration well is in August, followed by the spud of the Agar appraisal well in September.

TWMA is providing offshore personnel, drill cuttings containment and onshore drill cuttings processing as part of a three-year contract, which has two additional one-year options.

Marlene Mitchell, Sales Director at TWMA, said: “We are very pleased to secure this contract, which marks our first work with Azinor Catalyst. TWMA will support this drilling activity by safely and effectively managing drill cuttings, through containment offshore and processing onshore.

The company will collect and contain the drill cuttings offshore before transport onshore. From there, drill cuttings will be treated at its Peterhead facility, “thus minimising the environmental impact of the drilling programme.”

Partridge

Catalyst acquired a 100 percent operated interest in blocks 14/11a, 14/12a and 14/16a, which contain the Partridge prospect, back in December 2015.

The company estimated that drilling of the Partridge exploration well would take approximately 25 days.

The prospect’s pre-drill recoverable volumes have been estimated at 119 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) in the mid-case, with an upside case of 260 mboe. Partridge has a relatively shallow and normally pressured reservoir and is located on the Outer Moray Firth, adjacent to the Scapa, Claymore, and Athena oil fields.

The seismic signature of the prospect is directly analogous to the one observed in the Lower Cretaceous sands at the producing Scapa and Claymore Fields.

Agar and Plantain

Catalyst holds a 50 percent interest in blocks 9/9d and 9/14a, which contain Agar and Plantain. The Agar discovery was made in 2014 with the 9/14a-15A exploration well which encountered a 33 feet column. Agar and Plantain have an estimated combined mid case resources of 60 mboe, with an upside case of 98 mboe.

Located in the South Viking Graben, Agar and Plantain are 12 kilometers east of Apache’s Beryl field and 14 kilometers west of Aker BP’s Alvheim hub.

Drilling of the Agar appraisal well is expected to take approximately 35 days and includes a sidetrack to test the Plantain Prospect.