Fossil energy – drilling
Gazflot’s Northern Lights semi-submersible drill rig is on its way to the Arctic after several seasons drilling wells at Gazprom’s (Sakhalin 3 Project) Yuzhno-Kirinskoye gas field offshore Sakhalin Island.
Gazflot reports here that the rig was loaded onto the semi-submersible heavy lift vessel GPO Amethyst in the port of Vostochnyy in the Russian Far East.
It is now on its way to Murmansk where it will undergo final preps before mobilizing to an as yet undisclosed drill location in the Russian offshore Arctic.
The Northern Lights is most likely heading to the Kara Sea.
Gazprom Nedra previously indicated that two wells are to be drilled there this summer, one at Leningradskoye and one at Skuratovskoye.
The latter has been drilled in the past using a jack-up rig, so perhaps the Northern Lights will go to Leningradskoye.
Alternatively, the Northern Lights could be held in Murmansk until the 2022 drill season – Gazprom Nedra noted that it planned to return to the Barents Sea (Ledovoye field near Shtokmanovskoye) next year.