The Valaris 247 jackup has reached the Jadestone Energy-operated Montara oil field offshore northwest Australia, and it is preparing to spud the Skua-11 sidetrack well (Skua-11ST).

Initially, the rig will decommission the existing SK-11 well before drilling the side-track higher up in the Skua structure to speed up reserves recovery and extend the economic life of the Montara field by a year.

Jadestone expects this program to take about 60 days to complete, and it is targeting a rate of 3,500 bbl/d once Skua-11ST comes onstream. The estimated cost is $62 million.

In a Dec. 5 update, the company said work to optimize production and uptime at the nearby Montara Venture FPSO has delivered positive results.