It is a pleasure to announce that Sveinn Hannesson has been hired as CEO of Iceland Drilling Company and will start within 2 months. Sveinn is a Mechanical and Industrial Engineer from University of Iceland and has substantial management experience from international organisations. Last 8 years he has acted as CEO of Crayon in Iceland as well as leading other North European branches. Crayon is an international IT company with headquarters in Oslo.

We welcome Sveinn to Iceland Drilling Company.

Guðjón Ásmundsson CFO remains Acting CEO until Sveinn assumes his new position.

Archer is now owner of 50 % of Iceland Drilling. The other 50% is owned by Kaldbakur which was also a previous shareholder in Iceland Drilling.

Archer is an international drilling company with headquarters in Norway. Archer is with the investment increasing their commitment to the ongoing energy transition.

The shareholders have elected a new board of directors.
Chairman of the board is Höskuldur H. Ólafsson.
A list of the board members is available at https://www.jardboranir.is/about-us/boards/
For further information on Arher please visit their homepage at https://www.archerwell.com/

Following mobilization and rig up of our Drillmec HH-220 rig in the Azores, then geothermal drilling operations have started. First well is already finalized successfully and the second already in progress. The geothermal area is in Ribeira Grande on the island of Sao Miguel.

Iceland Drilling Company have successfully mobilized their drilling rig which is Drillmec HH-220 from the Island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean to the Azores Islands.  Following land transport and rig up procedures, then geothermal drilling operations have started. First well already finalized successfully and the second already in progress.  The geothermal area is in Ribeira Grande on the island of Sao Miguel.

The project involves the drilling of three to six geothermal wells in Ribeira Grande up to a depth of 1500 meters.  Once finalized the drilling rig will be mobilized to the nearby island of Terceira for additional drilling of two to three wells at Pico Alto geothermal field.  The purpose of the drilling is to increase the electric generation capacity at existing power plants.

Sigurdur Sigurdsson, the CEO of IDC, underscored that this drilling project marks the 5^th geothermal drilling project operated by Iceland Drilling Company on the islands of the Azores.  We are very glad to have contributed toward activation of geothermal power generation in the Azores.  We are islander just like Azores and realize the importance of utilizing domestic clean energy source for energy security. We look forward to the good cooperation and to continue to create value for our client in Azores.

According to Carlos Bicudo, Board Member of EDA Renováveis

The exploitation of geothermal resources in the Azores guarantees 25% of all electricity generation on the islands. The contribution of geothermal is even higher in each power generation system, reaching up to 44% in São Miguel island and 12% in the Terceira island. With about four decades of exploitation in the Azores, geothermal has proven to be a cost-effective option, providing reliable and sustainable power, and reducing the carbon footprint of power generation.

We are planning to increase the geothermal capacity in São Miguel and Terceira Island, passing from the current 23 to 28 MW and from 3,5 to 10 MW, respectively. The ongoing drilling campaign corresponds to first phase of this ambitious investment plan. We are very glad to have the cooperation of Iceland Drilling Company for this project as drilling contractor, who already drilled most of our wells, and we look forward to working together once again.

 

EDA Renováveis have awarded Iceland Drilling Company (IDC) a new drilling contract on the Azores, for drilling geothermal wells on the islands of Sao Miguel and Terceira. This is the result following an open tender in the European Area, where the company participated in competition with two other European drilling companies. The project involves drilling for nine (9) geothermal wells, with an estimated depth of 1,000 to 2,300 meters. The value of the contract is about EUR 18,6 million.

Ahead is further preparation for the project on the Azor Islands. IDC plans to mobilize the drilling rig „Odin“ in the springtime from the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean, where the company is completing drilling three geothermal wells. The spud in is expected to begin on the Azor Islands this early autumn, first on the island of Sao Miguel, where there are currently two power plants utilizing the geothermal wells drilled by IDC some 8-15 years ago. Then the plan is to mobilize the rig to the island of Terceira, but there is already one geothermal power plant producing up to 3 MWe.  The working time is estimated to be 12-18 months.

According to Sigurdur Sigurdsson, CEO of IDC, this agreement is important for the company, as drilling activity in Iceland will be minimum for the next two years.  IDC previous experience of contracting in the Azores and beyond is a good roadmap for this project, but over the past 15 years the company has done a lot of work in acquiring projects abroad and now the company has drilled geothermal wells in a total of 10 countries around the world. The company is respected in the international market for its expertise it has acquired in Iceland and abroad. Interest in the utilization of geothermal energy for energy generation and central heating is growing in many parts of the world, where it is environmentally friendly and renewable energy.

Feb 2020