Italian contractor Saipem has been awarded a drilling contract worth $400Million “by the Joint Venture Eni Côte d’Ivoire Ltd. and (state hydrocarbon firm) Petroci“, offshore Côte d’Ivoire.
The company didn’t reveal how many wells the contract will cover. The Baleine field, discovered in 2021, is located in 1,150metre water depth in the West African Transform Margin.
“This value ($400Million) is to be considered gross of the leasing costs of the Deep Value Driller vessel that will be used for the operations”, Saipem discloses.
What that simply means is that the seventh-generation drillship Deep Value Driller is specifically named in the contract. The rig is not originally Saipem’s; it was chartered as part of the agreement with the Norwegian company named Deep Value Driller.
Saipem has described Deep Value Driller, as “one of the most modern in the world”.
Saipem’s 12000 Drillship was used to drill the Baleine 1 discovery well.
Outside of drilling services, the contractor had earlier won engineering and procurement contracts worth about 1Billion Euros, for track development of the Baleine field, including:
- Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) activities of Subsea Umbilicals, Risers and Flowlines (SURF) and of an onshore gas pipeline for the connection to the distribution grid.
- The offshore laying of flexible lines, risers and umbilicals will be executed by Saipem’s flagship vessel FDS2 and the development of the project will be on a fast-track basis.
- Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning activities regarding the refurbishment of the Firenze FPSO vessel, plus 10 years of Operations and Maintenance services of the vessel.
The latest (drilling contract) award, Saipem says, “represents an important consolidation of Saipem’s presence in the Ivory Coast, a strategic area where the company is currently executing the project for the development of the oil and gas field Baleine.”
