Rowan Companies Inc., El Paso Oil & Gas Canada Inc. and Canadian Superior Energy Inc. said that they have contracted the Rowan Gorilla V for the initial drilling of El Paso’s and Canadian Superior’s Marquis Natural Gas Project offshore Nova Scotia. In February, Canadian Superior said the Marquis prospect is targeting up to 2 Tcf reserves (see NGI, Feb. 25). The site is located about 100 miles offshore.

“The Rowan Group brings a wealth of East Coast service and supply experience to our Marquis Project, and subject to regulatory approval, we are looking forward to begin drilling on the Marquis Project with the Gorilla V over the next six to eight weeks,” said Greg Noval, Canadian Superior’s president.

The Marquis Project is located approximately 12.5 miles northwest of Sable Island and is directly on trend with, and analogous to, the recent Deep Panuke Abenaki reef natural gas discovery. Rowan said the Deep Panuke play is located approximately 15.6 miles to the southwest of the Marquis Project and has successfully tested several delineation wells, each with productive capacity in excess of 50 MMcf/d. The Deep Panuke discovery production rate is expected to be in excess of 400 MMcf/d when it is brought online. The first Marquis well will be drilled to a minimum depth of 14,100 feet or a depth sufficient to test the main deep Abenaki reef section.

“The Rowan Gorilla V is one of the largest jackup drilling rigs operating in the world and in association with Canadian Superior, we are very pleased to see this contract awarded to Rowan,” said Harvey Klingensmith, president of El Paso Canada.

Rowan said the Gorilla V is the first of a series of Super Gorilla class jackups capable of drilling and producing simultaneously in water depths up to 400 feet in harsh environments like offshore eastern Canada. The Gorilla V features a derrick with a total combined drilling capacity of 3.5 million pounds, 16,975 of prime mover horsepower, 8,800 of mud pump horsepower and a total drilling load capacity of 16.25 million pounds.

“We are very pleased to announce our new contract for Gorilla V and the Marquis Project and we are especially pleased to continue our 20 plus years of operations offshore eastern Canada and we look forward to this new opportunity to expand our customer base offshore Nova Scotia,” said Bob Palmer, Rowan’s CEO.

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