Swift Drilling makes it economically attractive to develop smaller gas fields in Dutch part of North Sea

Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) has signed an agreement with Swift Drilling BV, a joint venture of GTI subsidiary Fabricom Oil & Gas and Van Es Group. Swift Drilling BV will drill exploration and production wells for NAM in the southern part of the North Sea. Especially for this purpose a high-tech offshore drilling installation will be developed that is smaller and more efficient than conventional installations. The installation will open up fresh prospects for small fields that previously appeared unattractive because of the difficulties in extracting gas from them. Extracting gas from these fields will give substance to the 'small fields policy' of the Dutch government. This policy seeks to keep Dutch gas supplies up to the desired level. The agreement with NAM is for a term of five years with an option for five renewals of one year at a time.

Swift Drilling BV will carry out the drilling operations using a custom-made jack-up drilling platform - the Swift drilling platform - that is specially suited to water depths and weather conditions in the southern North Sea. The significantly lower drilling costs of the smaller and modern Swift drilling platform will make it profitable to develop smaller gas and oil fields in this part of the North Sea. The drilling platform is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Over the past year the contractual parties have conducted a joint study into technical and economic conditions. The drilling platform had to be designed for conditions in the southern section of the North Sea. Ruud Majenburg, member of the Executive Team and GTI Managing Director for the private sector and specialised companies, stressed the importance of this innovative project: "It was exceptional for all parties to contribute their expertise and share it with each other. This produced an optimum result that has now been crowned with this cooperation agreement. We are proud that together with NAM and Van Es Group we are going to put into practice a solution that will prolong the gas production lifecycle in the North Sea."

GTI NV, a GDF SUEZ company
Together with Axima, Elyo, ENDEL, INEO, Tractebel Engineering and Fabricom GTI, GTI is part of GDF SUEZ Energy Services. As the European leader in multitechnical services, GDF SUEZ Energy Services offers global solutions to its customers in the industry, the infrastructure and the tertiary sectors, from the design, realisation and maintenance of installations to energy and utilities management and long-term multitechnical management. GDF SUEZ Energy Services employs 80,000 people and achieved revenues of ? 14 billion. GDF SUEZ Energy Services is a business line of GDF SUEZ, one of the leading energy providers in the world.

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