PV DRILLING V made remarkable milestones in Brunei

After the first drilling campaign for BIEN DONG POC at Hai Thach - Moc Tinh fields, the TAD – PV DRILLING V has been cold-stacked for almost 5 years, resulted from the price oil crisis and 2 more years for its reactivation works. Finally, the TAD rig came back to work to implement the drilling campaign for Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) in Brunei from January 2022. Up to present, the TAD – PV DRILLING V has made remarkable milestones in Brunei after one year of service provision.

First achievements

Mr. Dinh Quang Nhut - Vice President of PV Drilling cum Managing Director of PVD Drilling Division, a subsidiary that directly manages four jack-up rigs, one land rig and one TAD rig, said: After a difficult and challenging preparation process in 2020 and 2021, mainly due to Covid-19 pandemic, the TAD - PV DRILLING V officially put into operation to implement the drilling campaign for BSP in Brunei from 28 January, 2022. Up to present, the Rig has continuously maintained its operation safely and efficiently with average efficiency of 98.17% and without lost time incident (Zero LTI).

Specifically, during the first year of service provision, PV DRILLING V completed a total of 5 wells, including 2 wells ahead of schedule, which was highly appreciated by the Client. Besides, other KPI criteria such as running the well completion package and casing connection duration, both set new records in BSP’s data system for similar rigs. In quarter 4/2022, PV DRILLING V upgraded its ranking, from number 18 to number 4 in the list of rigs of the same kind currently operating for Shell Global. The result of a 14-place increase in Shell Global’s ranking list has proved outstanding efforts of PV Drilling generally and PVD Drilling Division specifically.

PV DRILLING V Reactivation Ceremony.

The second achievement can be detailed here is all the staff together with balanced control operators (BCO), safety training coordinator (STC), radio operator of PV DRILLING V rig have instantly grasped as well as adapted to the new working environment which basically has many differences in culture and religion.

The third achievement is that PV Drilling has completed all local business development requirements (LBP) specified in the signed contract within the first year. LBP are strict requirements in the contract as stipulated by Brunei’s Ministry of Energy (ME) as well as by BSP in order to develop the local labor force. With Brunei current small-scaled labor market (the total population only about 450,000 people), the compliance of LBD requirements is quite a big challenge to the drilling campaign, not to mention whether the labor force is capable to handle the job safely or not. Therefore, PV Drilling on one hand had to find human resources from other sources, on the other hand took advantage of training local staff from low to higher levels in order to reach the committed rate.

Another challenge can be mentioned here is that the turnover rate always maintained at a very high level of about 15-20%, causing considerable difficulties in rig operation and management. Accordingly, the training of compliance certification had to develop respectively; additional costs and service resources were incurred, as a result. Along with the local staff training programs, PV Drilling has made essential adjustments related to the BCO, STC in order to achieve stability in general.

Currently, there is an increase in a number of drilling rigs to participate in Brunei market. This will definitely make more pressure in the limited local manpower market and increase harsh competitions among drilling contractors to find enough local staff in the upcoming time.

Overcome challenges

Apart from achievements above, the operation of PV DRILLING V also used to face many challenges.

First of all, the procedures to accept the rig at the first drilling site can be mentioned. BSP’s criteria to rig acceptation are very strict, detailed and require a huge amount of work in the short time.

The second challenge is differences in culture, religion, working style between BSP and our previous clients. Another element can be added to the differences is Brunei’s cuisine. It totally differs from Vietnam’s cuisine, causing initial difficulties for Vietnamese labor staff.

The third challenge came from the market of rig service support in Brunei. This market was not too big or diversified, together with the confusion of the initial period to participate in this market, many essential support services need to be ordered from overseas, as a result.

It is not to mention that BSP has so many specialized departments and periodic/unannounced audits. The Client always asked for the improvement, testing on environmental protection, emission reduction, energy optimization, etc., resulting in incurring additional costs and put considerable pressure on rig operation and management.

The TAD – PV DRILLING V in Brunei.

In order to overcome all challenges and gradually put the TAD rig into operation, PVD Drilling Division’s management and the technical crew has implemented many effective solutions including proactively planning and coordinating appropriate works; promptly learning experiences from other similar rigs which have been working for BSP in order to apply for the TAD – PV DRILLING V rig; at the same time, applying previous working experiences in ASEAN countries to the TAD operation. Besides, PV Drilling and PVD Drilling Division always proactively responded to unexpected situations such as Covid-19 outbreak on the rig without disrupting production, which was highly appreciated by the Client.

To sum up, manpower solidarity, professionalism in service provision, clients’ treatment orientations are key elements that add to our today success. After a continuous learning and improvement period, both the management system and rig operational crew have accumulated more practical experiences; especially, the crew has become more mature amd upgrading to a higher level, keeping up with the trend of ASEAN region and the world.

Today, we can proudly say that our success in the first year of service provision in Brunei for BSP is an important premise for the TAD – PV DRILLING V rig to continue to maintain its operational performance for this long-term drilling campaign. Moreover, this initial success will continue to affirm brand values of a professional drilling contractor - PV Drilling in both regional and international markets.