Offshore drilling firm Valaris said Tuesday that its Valaris MS-1 semi-submersible drilling rig had reached Santos' Barossa gas field offshore Australia.
"On July 16, the VALARIS MS-1 completed the tow from Dampier to the Barossa Field offshore the Northern Territory of Australia to commence work for Santos Ltd. Congratulations to the team that made this possible!," Valaris said in a social media post.
"This significant drilling project has been in the planning for many months. I thank all those involved for their safe work in getting the rig ready, including our business partners involved in the project upgrades. Looking forward to a safe and successful operation for the Santos Barossa campaign,” said Alistair Mcdonald, Rig Manager.
Valaris also shared photos taken during the tow. They can be seen here.
The MS-1, a 2011-built F&G ExD Millennium-design rig, was recently used by Western Gas to drill the closely watched Sasanof-1 exploration well off Western Australia. The well found no hydrocarbons. Read more here.
According to Valaris' fleet status report, the MS-1 drilling rig (previously known as Atwood Osprey) is expected to stay on a contract with Santos from July 2022 until October 2023.
In March 2021, Santos announced a final investment decision (FID) had been taken to proceed with the US$3.6 billion Barossa gas and condensate project, located offshore the Northern Territory, Australia.
The Barossa development will comprise a BW Offshore supplied FPSO, subsea production wells, supporting subsea infrastructure, and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline. First gas production is targeted for the first half of 2025.
In March 2022, Australia's offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA, approved Santos' Barossa drilling and well completions campaign plans.
According to that plan, six subsea production wells will be drilled and completed around the future locations of three subsea production manifolds, with two wellheads adjacent to each manifold. If required, up to two contingency production wells could be drilled and completed at any manifold (eight wells in total).