Tore Aarreberg News

Statoil has decided to cancel the contract with Songa Trym, four months before the expiration of contract on 4 March 2016. Statoil has previously notified Songa Offshore that the rig would be suspended for a period, and Statoil has tried to find other assignments for the rig after the suspension period and up to the expiration of contract. “We informed the supplier earlier in October about suspending the contract after the rig has completed the drilling operation on the Tavros well on the Visund field. Statoil has hoped for further activity in the remaining contract period, but we now realize that we must cancel the contract, as we have not succeeded in finding more assignments.

Due to overcapacity in their rig portfolio, Statoil will lay up the COSL Pioneer rig in the fourth quarter of 2014. The rig is currently carrying out an assignment on the Visund field and is scheduled to complete this work at the end of September. “After a careful review of our drilling plan, we find it necessary to suspend COSL Pioneer for the time being,” says rig procurement responsible Tore Aarreberg. In the beginning of July Statoil also announced that the drilling rig Scarabeo 5 will be temporarily suspended.

Owing to overcapacity in its rig portfolio, Statoil says it will suspend its contract with Saipem for the rig Scarabeo5 from the autumn of 2014, provisionally for the remainder of the year. Thus Scarabeo5 will be laid up for a brief period and Statoil adds it is planning to re-commission the rig after the turn of the year. The rig is currently engaged in operations on Visund and is scheduled to complete its work there in August. The period for which the rig is being taken out of operation is equivalent to less than 3 % of Statoil’s drilling capacity on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) this year. “We subject our rig portfolio to continuous assessment, so that we are sure of having the right rig on the right job at all times,” says Tore Aarreberg, head of rig procurement.