On April 9, Marathon Canada Ltd. announced it would plug and abandon the deepwater Annapoplis well on offshore Exploration License 2377, 220 miles south of Nova Scotia in 5,700 ft water depth. The decision follows a well-control event caused by a gas kick. Drilling was suspended on March 24, and the well was brought under control without incident. Mechanical reasons were cited as the reason for abandonment.
Now, Marathon is working with project partners to evaluate alternatives for further drilling on the prospect.
In November 2001, Marathon announced it had added two exploration tracts to its holdings offshore Nova Scotia. The company was high bidder on parcels 5 and 6 in the offshore bidding round announced by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. The acquisition increased Marathon's interests offshore Nova Scotia to five exploration licenses, covering 1.92 million acres.
At that time, Marathon announced it would drill Annapolis, which would be the deepest well drilled offshore Nova Scotia. Annapolis was scheduled to take 60 days to drill. Unfortunately, that seemingly reasonable schedule was not to be met.
Marathon contracted with Smedvig for the West Navion, a drillship specifically designed to operate in ultra-deepwater and in the harsh weather environment of the North Atlantic. Nearly from the outset, the drillship was beset with problems. Initially, cracks in the worn sheaves in the hoisting system of the dual derrick needed to be repaired. Maritime Hydraulics, the supplier of the dual derrick set, issued a request for users to inspect all drilling units equipped with the dual Ram Rig and began repair efforts that would keep the drillship inoperable for several weeks. When the derrick problem was fixed, defects in both utilized and unutilized risers appeared, causing more weeks of idle rig time. The well control event in March was the third in a series of unfortunate incidents that frustrated progress on the well.
Marathon operates Annapolis with 30% interest. Partners include EnCana Corporation with 26%, Norsk Hydro Canada Oil and Gas Inc. with 25%, and Murphy Oil Company Limited with 19%.
