Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) has signed a contract with Transocean Drilling U.K. to charter semi-submersible rig John Shaw to drill at the Skipper oil discovery at Block 9/21a in the Northern North Sea.
to drill at the Skipper oil discovery at Block 9/21a in the Northern North Sea.Drilling operations will commence late January or early February 2016 and is expected to take around 25 days. IOG said that the objective is retrieving good quality reservoir condition oil samples in order to design the optimum field development plan for the Skipper field.
Mark Routh, CEO of IOG, commented: “Following our recent funding, the signing of this semi-submersible rig contract with Transocean is the breakthrough we’ve 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.”
IOG intends to drill the Skipper well as 100% owner, which relies upon the completion of an agreement to acquire 50% of the licence from Alpha Petroleum. The deadline for completion of this agreement is December 21.
