KCA DEUTAG establishes presence in Iraq

abarrelfull wrote on 15 Oct 2010 14:27
Tags: iraq kca-deutag services upstream

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KCA DEUTAG, the international drilling and engineering contractor, today announced that it has commenced operations in Iraq, with the deployment of one rig in the north of the country and a second being mobilised shortly.

KCA DEUTAG established its presence in the country with its first rig, now operating in Northern Iraq. The company’s second Iraqi rig, a new-build 2,000HP land rig, T-601, is arriving in Basra, Southern Iraq, in the next few weeks and will be operational as of early 2011.

Tim Summers, KCA DEUTAG chairman said: “Iraq is a key strategic market for KCA DEUTAG as the country looks to develop its huge reserves base. Even before the Iraqi government increased their estimate of the country’s proven oil reserves by 25 per cent to 143bn barrels, the Iraq Drilling Company was planning to drill more than 250 wells each year from 2011. Iraq represents an important opportunity both for KCA DEUTAG and Bentec given the anticipated level of industry activity and investment in the region. KCA DEUTAG has been operating in-country with one rig in the North since September 2010. Our second rig, a 2,000hp land-rig destined for Southern Iraq, will be arriving in November 2010 with operations expected to start in early 2011.

“In addition to the two rigs already commissioned for Iraq, we are planning to ship a third rig from Dubai into the region, expected to be operational in 2011, and are also in the process of building two additional 1,500hp Speed Rigs, manufactured by Bentec, to address the specific requirements of Iraq. They are expected to go into service in during 2012.

“KCA DEUTAG has also recently signed an MoU with the Iraq Drilling Company to jointly pursue future drilling and training opportunities in Iraq and we have begun recruiting Iraqi engineers in line with our policy of knowledge sharing. KCA DEUTAG has a long history in the Middle East and was involved with the Iraqi oil services sector as early as in the 1950s and operated successfully in the country up until the 1980s. We again look forward to providing safe, effective and trouble-free services to the re-emerging Iraqi oil industry and to helping rebuild its presence on the global oil market, and thus contribute to the overall economy.”

Notes to editors
T-601 technical information
The T-601 has a design drilling depth of 25,000ft (7,500m), a 2,000HP drawworks and a slingshot mast and substructure rated to 1.3 million lbs static hook load.

T-220 and T-221 technical Information
With many innovative features and advantages, the “Speed Rig” achieves extraordinary gains in drilling efficiency. Every aspect of the rig’s operation from mobility and deployment to machine and structural design have benefited from a wide array of improvements that maximise safety while minimising time for rig-up/down and transport between locations.

It is a Bentec designed “Speed Rig” concept which is a new generation rig capable of fast and efficient rig moves with mast erect, either over flat terrain conditions or on locations involving pad drilling operations.

The rigs are equipped with numerous internationally-manufactured components such as the Bentec Topdrive TD-500-HT, drawworks, power control and mud pumps. The Bentec Topdrive itself comes with a number of innovative features designed to significantly improve drilling performance, such as a continuous torque rating of 46,500 ft/lbs.

About KCA Deutag
KCA DEUTAG is one of the world's largest international land drilling contractors and one of the largest platform drilling contractors in the North Sea. The company also operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units (three wholly owned jack-ups and management of seven Self Erect Tender Barges). KCA DEUTAG employs over 8,000 people and operates in over 20 countries worldwide.

KCA DEUTAG establishes presence in Iraq

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