Independent Oil & Gas signs rig contract with Transocean

North Sea-focused Independent Oil & Gas has signed a rig contract with Transocean Drilling UK to procure the Transocean John Shaw semi-submersible rig to drill the company's well on the Skipper oil discovery in the Northern North Sea.

The AIM-listed company said it expects the rig will begin drilling operations at Skipper in late January or early February, to retrieve good quality reservoir condition oil samples in order to design the optimum field development plan for the Skipper field.

The rig will drill a vertical well to 5,600ft which is expected to take approximately 25 days.

Skipper, which is an offshore heavy oil field, currently has 26.2m barrels of gross 2C resources and IOG estimates it could have 34.1m barrels of recoverable oil.

Chief executive officer Mark Routh said: “Following our recent funding, the signing of this semi-submersible rig contract with Transocean is the breakthrough we've been waiting for.

“This allows us to drill the Skipper well in the New Year which will enable us to optimise the Skipper Field Development Plan in addition to targeting two exploration prospects at low cost.”

At 1007 GMT, IOG shares were up 12.5% to 8.44p.