Arenite Petroleum today confirmed the establishment of a new gas field, which it described as being previously “hidden in the open”offshore northern England.
The firm re-visited wells drilled by Total offshore Scarborough more than 40 years ago. At the time the wells recorded five wells flowing at rate of 15 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, however, they were viewed at the time as sub-economic.
In 1991, Conoco, the US independent oil company, drilled a further well which flowed at 34 million standard cubic feet of gas a day and 1,230 barrels of condensate per day from fractured Permian carbonates. “At the time, companies considered the gas finds small and subsequently relinquished their licences”, according to Arenite.
The firm has since used advanced seismic imaging and harnessed horizontal drilling to draw-up new plans.
Mike Cooper, director and founder at Arenite Petroleum Limited said: “We name this accumulation the Maxwell gas field. It is a giant gas field, which has been hiding in the open, analogous to the realisation made many decades ago that a series of small gas discoveries in the Netherlands were indeed part of the giant Groningen gasfield, now the largest onshore gasfield in NW Europe.
“Though the sustainable production rates at the Maxwell gasfield are yet to be established, with state-of-the-art drilling, completion & production techniques, Arenite believe commercial deliverability can be achieved. Arenite have presented compelling technical data at recent technical conferences to demonstrate the vast potential.”
He added: “At the time of drilling, these discoveries were interpreted as small accumulations. However, it can now be demonstrated most of these wells flow tested small isolated ‘pop-up’ fault blocks. Had Conoco drilled a horizontal well away from these anomalous pop-up features, as was their intention before encountering drilling problems, we believe such a well would intersect natural fractures which would have delivered commercial flow rates, proving the extensive accumulation.”
Arenite will be seeking investors to drill a proof of concept horizontal well into the Permian carbonates, with two major target horizons identified, and deepen this well to test the underlying Carboniferous strata.
