Supermajor BP has contracted with offshore rig provider Transocean for use of drillship Deepwater Invictus on a drilling program in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The 1,095-day contract is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025 and is estimated to contribute approximately $531 million in backlog to Transocean, excluding additional services and a mobilization fee. The 3-year pact for use of the rig will cost BP about $485,000 per day.
The deal comes as BP plans a drilling program in the GOM’s Paleogene play where it has had success with the drill bit over the past 2 decades or so. Both development and exploration probes are on the menu moving forward in the play. The rig will join three other drillships the operator currently has under contract in the US GOM.
Earlier this week, the operator took final investment decision on its $5-billion Kaskida project in Keathley Canyon Block 292 and has suggested that the nearby Tiber find in Keathley Canyon Block 102 would likely get the green light around this time next year.
BP is approaching the Kaskida and Tiber projects with a design-one, build-two philosophy. Each floating production host is expected to produce around 80,000 to 100,000 BOE/D. The operator has a letter of intent in place with Singapore’s Seatrium for construction of the Kaskida FPU. The initial phase of the Kaskida development is targeting about 275 million BOE in recoverable reserves. First oil at Kaskida is slated for 2029.
Another development in the planning phase is Gila, which was discovered in December 2013—the operator’s third find in the Paleogene after Kaskida and Tiber.
The Gila discovery is in Keathley Canyon Block 93, about 300 miles southwest of New Orleans, in 4,900 ft of water. The discovery well encountered multiple Paleogene-aged reservoir sands en route to a total depth of 29,221 ft.
Just under a year later, BP discovered oil at Guadalupe in Keathley Canyon Block 10, encountering significant oil pay in Paleogene age Wilcox Sands.
Located approximately 180 miles off the Louisiana coast in 3,992 ft of water, the well was drilled to a total depth of 30,173 ft.
