Nestoil Group has deployed its Pathfinder 500 drilling rig to carry out workover operations on two producing wells in Oil Mining Lease 42, as part of efforts to increase crude oil output from the Niger Delta asset.
The operation was executed through Scorpio Drilling International, a strategic business unit of the group, and is expected to support the revival and expansion of production from the field.
The Pathfinder 500 is one of two rigs acquired by Nestoil Group under an investment estimated at $28 million. The other rig is the Scorpio 300.
According to the company, the Pathfinder 500 was moved to the OML 42 site, where it completed work on the two wells without recording any health, safety or environmental incident. The rig was subsequently returned to its base after the assignment.
The latest deployment is significant for Nestoil because it marks the Pathfinder 500’s first productive operation since the company acquired it about eight years ago.
The group said the achievement demonstrates its commitment to developing indigenous drilling capabilities and supporting the redevelopment of OML 42, a legacy Shell-operated asset.
Nestoil/Neconde Group Chairman, Dr Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, described the successful deployment as an important milestone for both the company and Nigeria’s local drilling industry.
He said the rig had remained idle for years amid doubts over whether it would eventually be deployed, making its successful mobilisation and completion of the workover operation a major achievement for the group.
Obiejesi explained that the decision to invest in the two rigs was driven by the high cost and operational difficulties associated with depending on externally hired drilling equipment.
As an owner in OML 42, he said Nestoil needed its own dependable drilling capacity to carry out workovers, restore ageing wells and eventually undertake new drilling activities as the field develops.
He added that the successful operation has strengthened the group’s position to begin its planned in-field drilling programme.
