US oilfield contractor Halliburton announced overnight it had been awarded seven contracts for drilling and completion services for Ichthys Phase-2.

The massive Ichthys LNG project is operated by Japan's Inpex in the Browse Basin offshore northern Australia.

Inpex was granted approval from the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) to conduct its next phase drilling program in production license WA-50-L in December.  

The development program is set to begin as soon as March this year and will take around three to five years to complete.

Inpex plans to drill and complete up to 15 development wells using a semi-submersible rig.

Under the contract, Halliburton will provide directional drilling, logging, coring and well completion services.

"We are excited to win this work and to collaborate with Inpex to deliver our extensive drilling and completion services in addition to our digital capabilities in the strategically significant Browse Basin," Halliburton Australasia vice president Jason Jeow said.

The campaign will target two reservoirs, Brewster and Plover.

According to Inpex's environmental management plan, the drilling campaign includes the potential for workovers and well intervention on existing and planned development wells.

Water depths at the proposed well locations range between 235 metres and 275m, the company said.

Inpex began the process of selecting its preferred contractors for the phase two development in January last year.

Maersk was awarded a significant US$300 million contract for the provision of its ultra-deepwater semi-submersible Maersk Deliverer rig.

McDermott International and Baker Hughes were awarded contracts to provide a joint URF and SPS EPCI solution for the upcoming campaign.

Fabrication of the subsea URF equipment will be carried out at McDermott's facility in Batam, Indonesia.

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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