Petrobras Signs MoU with Turkish National Oil Company On Black Sea Deepwater Drilling
28 May 2010
Brazil’s Petrobras signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) with the aim to expand deep-water exploration research in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
At the end of December 2009, Petrobras announced the arrival of the Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig to Turkey this Thursday. The rig will be used at well Sinop 1, located in ultra-deep waters (around 2,200 meters, about 7,200 feet) in the Black Sea, where the company will drill for the first time.
The Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig was built in 2001 and is capable of performing drilling operations in water depths of up to 2,300 meters. Its total drilling capacity is of upwards of 9,000 meters. The rig is 119 meters long, 85 meters wide, and can lodge up to 140 people.
In January, Petrobras, TPAO, and ExxonMobil signed a partnership agreement for the exploration of Block 3922 (Sinop), located in deep Black Sea waters, in Turkey. Petrobras is the operator of the project, holding 25% of the equity stakes in it, while TPAO holds 50%, and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Turkey B.V. holds the remaining 25% equity stakes in the Block's concession license.
The drilling activities for the Sinop-1 well, located about 145 km away from the city of Sinop, were kicked-off in February.
Another sensitive area with high environment disaster potential. Let's hope that operators will learn from the current BP-Gulf of Mexico event.
Posted by: HarveyD | 28 May 2010 at 08:22 AM
They must think that no one will notice an oil spill on the Black Sea.
Posted by: dursun | 28 May 2010 at 09:20 AM