Ireland's PSE Kinsale Energy has hired Stena Drilling's Stena Spey semi-submersible drilling rig for a decommissioning campaign at the Kinsale field offshore Ireland.
To remind, Kinsale area offshore gas fields in the Celtic Sea officially ceased production last month after more than 40 years online. Production from the fields, between approximately 40 and 70km off the County Cork coast, began in 1978 and peaked in 1995.
Stena Drilling said Monday that its Stena Spey drilling rig would start the decommissioning campaign for PSE Kinsale Energy - a Petronas subsidiary -in April 2021.
AGR Well Management is the lead contractor managing the design, supply chain, and execution of both the platform and subsea well decommissioning work scopes on behalf of PSE Kinsale Energy Ltd, Stena Drilling said.
The Stena Spey has been picked to carry out this work and will move in the first quarter of 2021 to the Kinsale Field, offshore Cork, Stena Drilling said.
According to the drilling company, there are 10 wells to decommission and the work is estimated to take 180 days to complete. Norway's Bassoe Offshore has estimated the dayrate for the 10-well P&A campaign is around $150,000. This means that the full contract value for the rig is around $27 million.
The Stena Spey semi-submersible drilling unit is currently on contract with Dana Petroleum Limited (E&P) in the Central North Sea. After the completion of the Dana Petroleum scope, the Stena Spey will undergo preparations for the upcoming campaign with PSE Kinsale Energy Ltd.
"Stena Spey continues to be a rig of choice for operators, which is a testament to the safe and high-performance operations our co-workers onboard have delivered over the years," Stena Drilling said.
Built in 1983 by Daewoo in South Korea, the Stena Spey is a Friede & Goldman L907 (enhanced Pacesetter) twin-pontoon, column-stabilized, self-propelled, semi-submersible offshore drilling unit. Since entering service in 1983, the rig has undergone several upgrades.
