IKM Group will provide a riser-less top-hole mud circulation system to Shell on the Malikai project offshore Sabah, Malaysia.
IKM says the contract award is an important milestone for its MRR technology (mud recovery without riser) and will mark the first MRR application outside the North Sea.
For Malikai, Shell will use the Norshore Atlantic drill-ship to batch-drill eight top-holes in 475m water depth. The drilling fluids will be collected at the wellhead and pumped back to the vessel using IKM’s MRR, enabling the use of engineered drilling fluids. Operations were due to start in August.
"This method of top-hole drilling delivers minimal environmental impact with no discharge of drilling fluids, reduces risk, and provides mud logistics benefits and associated cost efficiency," says IKM.
The MRR is a 2nd generation riser-less mud recovery technology, incorporating the latest advances in safe working, operational performance and cost efficiency, IKM says. The system has been developed to reduce the deck footprint, the number of offshore personnel, and the overall cost of top-hole mud recovery operations, and therefore expand the utilisation of such systems in mainstream drilling operations.
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