Offshore staff

LONDON, UK --The 2D seismic data bank offshore the Falkland Islands totals over 45,000 sq km (17,375 sq mi), according to the director of Minerals and Agriculture, Phyll Rendell. Three large 3D surveys also have been completed, she added, with Desire Petroleum ready to drill.

Rendell was speaking at last week's Falklands Forum in London. All previous wells were drilled north of the islands in 1998, using the semisubmersibleBorgny Dolphin. When the next rig comes in, she said, operations should run more smoothly, as more extensive base services are now available in the capital, Port Stanley.

The government has no requirement to bring any discovered hydrocarbons ashore, she said. "We want impact kept to a minimum." Any oil finds would probably be produced using a dynamically positioned FPSO with onboard processing, offloading to shuttle tankers, as offshore West Africa or Australia. "Our goal out of this is long-term economic self-sufficiency for the islands," she said.

04/23/2007