Labuan, 17th February 2014 — At the request of the Oil and Gas operator Newfield Peninsula Malaysia Inc., Asian Geos Sdn Bhd (“AG”) has successfully completed another pilot hole drilling campaign at Larak-1, SK-408 field offshore Sarawak this time with a record depth of 600 metres below the seabed. The DP2 Geoasia complete with the drilling rig AGL-75 was mobilized for this project in water depth of 81 metres.
The hole was advanced using the 3.5in diameter API drillstring with the MWD tool, provided by client, was lowered to collect relevant information at the drill bit which included the following:
- Rotational speed of the drill string
- Smoothness of that rotation
- Type and severity of any vibration downhole
- Downhole temperature
- Torque and weight on bit, measured near the drill bit
- Mud flow volume
An underwater camera was installed at the seabed frame to enable at night drilling. However, as a safety precaution, drilling was only conducted during daylight when the depth was approaching the levels of potential anomalies.
The 68m long Geoasia is the company’s dedicated geotechnical drilling vessel with DP station keeping stability and a four-point mooring system. This is the one and only DP2 dedicated geotechnical drilling vessel currently operating in Malaysia and the second one in Southeast Asia. The vessel was converted into a dedicated geotechnical vessel in 2012 and it is classed under the Bureau Veritas (BV).
The previous record depth of pilot hole drilling was 573 metres, drilled in September 2011 using AG’s other vessel MV Volans for Petronas Carigali at Temana Field.