The contract for the drillship Noble Tom Madden, which has been drilling exploration wells in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana for ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd., is scheduled to come to an end mid February 2019, according to a fleet status report from Noble Corporation pls & Subsidiaries released on December 13, 2018.
This drillship which had arrived in Guyana in October 2018, just recently concluded a drilling campaign at the Pluma well in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. Pluma became the tenth discovery for ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners HESS and and CNOOC Nexen, pushing the discovered recoverable resources to over 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Noble Tom Madden had been awarded two well programmes with three optional wells for exploration drilling offshore the South American country.
Its sister vessel Noble Bob Douglas is contracted to Esso up to April 2021. Following its drilling of a number of exploration wells, the Noble Bob Douglas has been tasked with the drilling of development wells for the Liza Phase 1 production campaign, which is slated for production in 2020 at a peak rate of 120,000 barrels per day.
