Drilling of the first production well at Gina Krog field has started, just eight days after the rig arrived at the North Sea field.

The Maersk Integrator, which started drilling on July 20, will drill wells until sometime in 2019. The current plan is to drill 14 wells. Ten of these will be production wells, and four will be combined gas injection and production wells.

“We will now drill and firstly install ten 30-in. conductors. We will then drill the top section of six wells. The plan is that two to three wells will be drilled into the reservoir before the topside arrives from South Korea,” Tonny Lemqvist, Statoil's drilling supervisor, said.

This is an extremely busy year for the Gina Krog field development project, with many milestones.

On June 11, the installation of the steel jacket and pre-drilling module was completed. The following day, the Maersk Integrator arrived at the field to be connected to the pre-drilling module and prepare for drilling.

Maersk Integrator is one of the world's largest jackups. It was built at Keppel FELS in Singapore, and was delivered one month ahead of schedule.

Mikal Thormodsen was in charge of the intake of the rig, and followed the construction, on behalf of Statoil, in Singapore.

It is not unusual for newbuilds to be delayed, and rigs must often undergo a period of yard work in Norway before they are ready for their offshore assignment. The Gina Krog project chose to set clear, ambitious goals and to be optimistic.

"The rig arrived in Norway in April and Maersk carried out the final tests and preparations in Åmøyfjorden outside Stavanger, however, without needing to dock the rig. We were also able to get all third-party equipment on board in time. It has not been easy, but we managed it," Morten Hyvik, project manager for Gina Krog Drilling and Wells, said.

Source: www.worldoil.com

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