Qatar Petroleum has commenced the development drilling campaign for the North Field East project, or NFE (previously the North Field Expansion project), as the first of 80 development wells from eight wellhead platform locations was spudded Mar. 29.
Drilled by the GulfDrill’s Lovanda offshore jack up drilling rig, the well begins the first phase of the expansion project set to increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 110 million tonnes/year (tpy) from 77 million tpy by 2024.
The second phase of the expansion project—the North Field South Project (NFS)—will further increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 126 million tpy from 110 million tpy.
Qatar Petroleum had earlier awarded a number of contracts for jack-up drilling rigs to be utilized for the drilling of 80 development wells for the NFE (OGJ Online, May 2, 2019). Contracts for six of the eight rigs were let to Gulf Drilling International. Contracts for the remaining two rigs were let to Northern Offshore Drilling Operations Ltd.
The installation of the first four offshore jackets in Qatari waters is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of April (OGJ Online, Nov. 27, 2019).
