Cyprus-Forum.com

[bill cobbett]

The Atwood Advantage... ???

Oh, it's this very impressively capable piece of engineering nearing completion at a yard in the Far East...

rig_advantage.jpg

It's already contracted for three years from late 2103 to our friends at Noble Energy for prospecting at Noble's concessions in the Eastern Med, so the chances are very good that it will be working at a Block 12 somewhere near you soon after.

It's an ultra-deep platform which can drill up to 40,000 feet in up to 12,000 feet of water. For comparison...the gas at Aphrodite was found at 19,000 feet in a water depth of 5,500 feet.

The aim is to drill for the O....I....L..!!!... that it is believed underlies the gas deposits that were found at Aphrodite a year or so ago.

Oil has the great advantage that it can be monetized very quickly, perhaps within months of discovery, using readily leasable rigs and storage platforms that can unload straight into tankers... no need for massive investment in gas terminals which can come later.

The Atwood Advantage is owned by Atwood Oceanics, a world leader in exploratory drilling and like Noble, it is HQ'd in Houston, Texas... which is in the USA.