Stena rig moving out of North Sea to Morocco for Chariot well

Africa-focused energy company Chariot has revealed that the Stena Drilling-owned Stena Don rig has started its mobilisation to Morocco where it will drill a gas appraisal well within the Lixus offshore licence.

Chariot contracted this rig from Stena Drilling in September 2021 to conduct drilling operations on the Anchois gas field within the Lixus licence, offshore Morocco. Operations are anticipated to start in mid-December 2021 and take up to approximately 40 days. This is the first time for the rig to move out of the North Sea.

According to the latest AIS data, the Stena Don rig is currently located at UKC – Irish Sea and is expected to arrive in Morocco on 13 December 2021.

Adonis Pouroulis, Acting CEO of Chariot, commented: “We are excited for drilling operations to get underway at Anchois and we look forward to keeping the market updated on developments as appropriate.”

Chariot has also hired Halliburton for services on the appraisal well, including project management services; directional drilling and logging whilst drilling services; drilling fluids materials and engineering services. Furthermore, the services will include cementing, pumping, materials and engineering services; wireline logging services; and drill bits and coring services,

The Lixus licence covers an area of approximately 2,390km2, 30km north of Chariot’s existing Moroccan acreage, with water depths ranging from the coastline to 850m. The area has been subject to earlier exploration with legacy 3D seismic data covering approximately 1,425km2 and four exploration wells, including the Anchois gas discovery.

As previously reported, Chariot’s appraisal drilling objectives are to unlock the development of the discovered sands by confirming the gas resource volumes, reservoir quality and well productivity, and provide a future production well for the development of the field.

Another objective is to potentially deepen the well into additional low-risk prospective sands with the aim of establishing a larger resource base for longer-term growth.

Stena Don is a semi-submersible rig, suitable for drilling, completion, and workover operations. The rig has recently drilled, completed, and tested the Evelyn development well located in the UK North Sea for Tailwind.