Statoil Awards Mariner Drilling Contract to Schlumberger - Analyst Blog

Norwegian oil major Statoil ASA (STO) has awarded the contract for integrated drilling and well services on the Mariner field to Schlumberger Ltd (SLB) on behalf of the Mariner co-venturers.

Schlumberger will provide all the main drilling and well services like drilling, completion, electrical submersible pumps, cement and fluids for Mariner from its Aberdeen base. The scope includes a total of 22 drilling and well services. The contract will be of a duration of four years commencing in Jan 2015 and has options for several additional four-year periods. Drilling is scheduled to start in 2016 with production start-up following in 2017.

Located about 150 kilometres east of the Shetland Isles, the Mariner field, is currently being developed by Statoil and its co-venturers JX Nippon and Dyas.

The main Mariner platform will comprise of one drilling rig and one well intervention and completion unit. Additionally, a new-build jack-up rig will be placed beside the Mariner installation, working through well slots on the platform for the first four years. The field is expected to be in production for about 30 years and is likely to have around 130 well targets.

Schlumberger's contract also comprises options for Bressay, another Statoil operated field on the UKCS. This field is currently in the concept evaluation phase. Moreover, it will also work as a framework agreement for exploration drilling on UKCS where Statoil has the option to use Schlumberger for any of the drilling and well services covered by the scope of the contract.

Statoil carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Investors may consider other stocks like Spectra Energy Partners, LP (SEP) and Seadrill Partners LLC (SDLP), both of which sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).