Sub-sea oil and gas service provider TSMarine has signed a contract with Canadian company Nautilus Minerals to provide drilling services in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea.
The four-month drilling program, due to start in October 2010, will focus on drilling at Solwara 1 Seafloor Massive Sulphide system and will also step out to other Nautilus prospects in the Bismarck Sea.
The contract has a minimum value of approximately US$7 million, with options to extend based on success.
TSMarine will provide the vessel, operating crew, remotely operated vehicles and drilling equipment. The company will subcontract Seafloor Geoservices to provide their Rovdrill 3, a second-generation seafloor drilling system, with full geotechnical capabilities, and capability to drill 70-millimetre core holes up to 80 metres deep.
Nautilus' requirement is to extend the depth of drilling to at least 40 meters at Solwara 1 and to carry out scout drilling at some of its other discoveries in the Bismarck Sea. Drilling will provide both resource definition and geotechnical data.
The Rovdrill 3 gives depth capability to test more fully the resource potential of Nautilus' Seafloor Massive Sulphide systems in the Bismarck Sea. The drilling spread will also collect geotechnical data to optimise equipment design and extend the mine plan at Solwara 1.
