Enerdrill set to emerge as the largest Australian owned onshore oil and gas drilling company
Enerdrill is a private oil and gas drilling company headquartered in Western Australia. Argonaut successfully raised $12m for Enerdrill in August 2013 via a $7m placement to existing shareholders and a $5m debt facility predominately provided by existing lender, National Australia Bank.
The purpose of the capital raising is to enable Enerdrill to complete the refurbishment for Rigs 2&3 and to acquire a fourth rig (Rig-4).
Enerdrill was co-founded by Argonaut in 2012 in response to the lack of functional and compliant medium and heavy rigs in Australia capable of drilling to depths of 5,000m. Rig scarcity is one of the primary bottlenecks constraining the Australian onshore exploration efforts. This is particularly the case with unconventional oil and gas where Australia is regarded as having some of the largest undeveloped resources in the world. To date Enerdrill has been successful in securing drilling contracts in New South Wales & Western Australia and continues to actively bid on work across Australia and New Zealand.
Enerdrill has been awarded its inaugural drilling contract for Rig-3 by ASX listed company New Standard Energy to assist with exploration of New Standard Energy’s Carnarvon and flagship Canning Basin asset which is in joint venture with ConocoPhillips and PetroChina. The first well is set to be drilled late 2013 and the second well mid 2014 (2 firm + 2 options).
On announcing the contract in July 2013 New Standard Energy stated
“New Standard Energy is confident it has selected the most competitive & competent contractor for its proposed 2013-14 drilling program following a highly detailed due diligence process and proactive two way engagement with Enerdrill. The decision to contract Enerdrill was also supported by JV partner ConocoPhillips.”
Enerdrill has been awarded its inaugural drilling contract for Rig-2 by the New South Wales Government, with drilling for this 2 firm + 1 option well program to start in November 2013.
Enerdrill’s Rig-1 has also recently been awarded a contract for workover operations in Western Australia’s north starting in October 2013.
Enerdrill decided to acquire Rig-4 in response to increasing demand from operators for rigs capable of drilling 1,500m to 3,000m wells with rapid rig-up/rig-down (RU/RD) solutions. The rig is well known to Enerdrill’s management, with Managing Director John Wells having been involved in the design and manufacturing of the rig and General Manager Bill Rippey recently serving as the rig’s Operations Manager. Rig-4 is also well known to several of Enerdrill’s key targeted clients and is highly complementary with Enerdrill’s existing fleet.
For further information on Enerdrill please refer to
www.enerdrill.com.au
Enerdrill Rig-4
