Romania's GSP starts drilling operations in Black Sea

GSP Jupiter, a semi-submersible, jackup independent leg cantilever drilling rig, is mobilised for the new contract on September 28, the company said in a statement last week.

Under the contract, the cantilever type self elevating unit will provide drilling services for two exploratory wells, Ioana and Eugenia, located in the offshore blocks XV Midia and XIII Pelican, respectively.

XV Midia and XIII Pelican cover approximately 1.1 million acres and contain several mapped prospects. GSP previously provided offshore drilling services for the Doina and Ana wells, in the southern Midia block, the company said.

The rig is now positioned and ready to start operations for Ioana well, at a 90 metre water depth. The rig moving and positioning operations were carried out with the support of GSP Vega and GSP Orion, the vessels remaining to provide offshore support services for the rig during the entire contract.

Sterling Resources said in May its Romanian unit, Midia Resources, had hired GSP to drill the Ioana and Eugenia offshore wells. The drilling of the two back-to-back wells was likely to commence mid to late September, the company said then.

Sterling Resources Ltd. is a Calgary based, publicly traded, energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in selected areas of the world.

GSP (www.gspoffshore.com) is a member of Upetrom Group and provides a wide range of integrated services in offshore drilling, offshore construction and support vessels, well services, plug and abandonment and decommissioning, hydro-technical construction, engineering, subsea installation, offshore windmill construction and installation, training.