14th Dec 2015 09:04
LONDON (Alliance News) - Independent Oil and Gas PLC on Monday said it has signed a rig contract with Transocean Drilling UK Ltd to procure the Transocean John Shaw semi-submersible rig to drill the company's appraisal well on the Skipper oil discovery in Block 9/21a in the Northern North Sea in licence P1609.
Chief Executive Mark Routh said the signing of the semi-submersible rig contract with Transocean is "the breakthrough" the company has been waiting for.
"This allows us to drill the Skipper well in the New Year which will enable us to optimise the Skipper Field Development Plan in addition to targeting two exploration prospects at low cost," Routh said.
Independent Oil and Gas said it expects the rig to begin drilling at Skipper in late January or early February 2016, with the aim of retrieving good quality reservoir condition oil samples in order to design the optimum field development plan for the Skipper field.
The rig will drill a vertical well to 5,600 feet which is expected to take about 25 days.
Skipper is an offshore heavy oil field located in the northern North Sea.
Independent Oil and Gas said it plans on drilling the Skipper well as its full owners, which requires completion of the sale and purchase agreement to acquire 50% of the licence from Alpha Petroleum Ltd. The deadline for completion of that deal has been extended to December 21, as previously reported.
The company also requires the UK's Oil and Gas Authority to approve IOG North Sea Ltd as licence operator and AGR Well Management Ltd as well operator.
Shares in Independent Oil & Gas were up 6.5% at 7.99 pence on Monday morning.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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