Anglo African Oil & Gas revealed that the drilling of the TLP 103 well at the Tilapia field in Congo has been hit by technical snag and that it has chalked out a forward plan to minimize disruption to the drilling program.
Image: An offshore oil rig in operation. Photo: courtesy of num_skyman/Freedigitalphotos.net.
On 15 August 2018, the TLP 103 appraisal well was spudded using the SMP 102 drilling rig. Whilst drilling through the shallow section a number of drilling challenges were encountered, caused by localised geological conditions, which resulted in ground movement that impacted the safe operation of the rig. Initial inspections show no damage to the rig.
The events occurred before the well had reached any of the target horizons. After a number of attempts to overcome this problem it was jointly decided by SMP (the drilling contractor) and AAOG to cease drilling, abandon the current location and move the rig 100 metres to the north west and re-spud the well.
The process to prepare the new location, move the rig and re-spud the TLP 103 well is expected to take approximately 25 days. Following the re-spud it is expected that drilling will take 64 days to complete.
In addition to contingencies in the drilling budget and potential offsets and claims under insurance policies, the Company has available to it offers of debt finance sufficient to meet any cost overruns due to the delay and need to re-spud.
The Company remains committed to drilling TLP-103.
Source: Company Press Release