Hurricane hires Stena rig for Lincoln P&A, restarts Lancaster well

Oil and gas company Hurricane Energy has hired a Stena Drilling-owned rig for the plug and abandonment of the Lincoln-14 well and restarted the electric submersible pump on the Lancaster field, located off the UK.

Hurricane said on Wednesday is working to plug and abandon the 205/26b-14 (Lincoln-14) well on the P1368 (South) licence in the Greater Warwick Area (GWA), which Hurricane operates on behalf of the GWA joint venture.

The JV is comprised of Hurricane 50 per cent and Spirit Energy Resources 50 per cent interest.

The company previously announced, including in the Proposed Financial Restructuring announcement published on 30 April 2021, that the GWA joint venture has a regulatory obligation to plug and abandon the Lincoln-14 well by 31 October 2021, and that a rig had been contracted by Hurricane, as licence operator, for this purpose.

The company confirmed on Wednesday that the Stena Don semi-submersible rig is now on hire. The Lincoln-14 plug and abandonment is scheduled to take c.20-25 days to complete with a gross budgeted campaign cost of c.$13 million (net $6.5 million to Hurricane).

Furthermore, the oil company said it has successfully restarted the electric submersible pump in the Lancaster 205/21a-6 (P6) well after it had tripped on 8 June 2021.

Once stabilised, the company intends to target oil production from the P6 well at a rate of c.11,000 bopd, being a similar level to that achieved immediately prior to the trip on 8 June 2021.

Thereafter, oil production from the P6 well is expected to continue declining, Hurricane said.

In early June, Hurricane revealed it was looking to shorten the bareboat charter term for Bluewater’s FPSO Aoka Mizu, operating on the Lancaster field, due to significant financial obligations of a full three-year option.

Hurricane is in the process of financial restructuring and the restructuring plan is dependent on the Bluewater FPSO continuing to be available to the company.

The oil company believes there is a reasonable prospect of negotiating an extension of the existing contract on acceptable terms. However, there is no guarantee of an extension of the existing contract on acceptable terms.

If Hurricane and Bluewater do not come to an agreement, Hurricane said it would have to wind down its business, cease operations at the Lancaster field, and decommission it.