The contracts, which were formally awarded to Maersk Drilling, PMD Viking Ghana Limited, Halliburton Ghana Limited and Exceed Well Management Ghana Limited, were signed in Accra via a video link in the presence of representatives from the main Aker Energy office in Oslo,

Mr Jan Arve Haugan Chief Executive Officer of Aker Energy, who made this known in a press statement issue and copied the GNA in Takoradi on Tuesday said they were pleased to achieve the key milestone that would enable them to commence drilling of the important Pecan -4A appraisal Well.

He said Aker Energy has also entered into other contracts relating to the drilling, which included an agreement with Halliburton Ghana Limited for the provision of drilling support and Well service to Aker Energy in addition to a contract for Well design and management it agreed with Exceed Well Management Ghana Limited.

Mr Haugan said the main objective of the Well was to test the extension of the Pecan Field, adding that it would provide valuable and important input in optimizing the plan of development for the field and in understanding the wider potential of the block.

According to the CEO the drilling contract with Maersk drilling was for one firm well, Pecan-4A and two optional wells, noting that the deep-water drill-ship Maersk Viking would perform the drilling in a water depth of 2, 674 metres.

He said the drill-ship built in 2014 with state of the art facilities and systems was currently in the Gulf of Mexico and would imminently set sail from the US to Ghana for operation to commence in the fourth quarter of 2018.  Mr  Shannon Sloum, Senior Vice President  of Eurasia Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa for Halliburton  said  the globally renowned oil and gas suppliers have teamed up with indigenous Ghanaian partners  in accordance with regulation and with a clear ambition to develop local  industrial capacity,

"We look forward to working on this project and the opportunity to collaborate with Aker Energy and Maersk to engineer solution for the development of the Pecan Filed".                                                                        For his part, Mr Morten Kelstrup of Maersk Drilling said Maersk drilling was very pleased to support Aker Energy and the license partners, adding that, it would help in building upon their operational track record in Ghana and their strong relationship with the Aker group, noting that the contract for Maersk Viking marked their third rig operating in Ghana".

“We have a strong commitment to local job creation and competency development and our joint venture with Prime Meridian Dock (PMD) Viking Ghana will be proving local Services in Connection with the operations".

Mr Ian Mills Managing Director of Exceed said they have a long history in Ghana and have invested in establishing a new local joint venture,  "Exceed Well Management Ghana look forward to supporting Aker Energy and their partners and believe there is significant potential to develop local capacity to exploit new deep water field offshore Ghana.

Aker Energy is the operator of the DWT/CTP block with 50 percent participating interest with partners LUKOIL with 38 percent, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation9GNPC) 10 percent and Fuel trade 2 percent.