France’s Engie E&P has upped its resource estimate for the Cara field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The operator now estimates the Cara discovery contains 56 – 94 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Cara is a gas and oil discovery in PL636 in block 36/7, located approximately 14 kilometers from the ENGIE E&P operated Gjøa facilities.
The original volumes were estimated to be between 4.5 and 12 million standard cubic meter (MSm3) of recoverable oil equivalent, which corresponds to 25 – 70 million barrels.
This made Cara the second largest discovery on the Norwegian continental shelf in 2016, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
ENGIE E&P now estimates the volumes of the discovery to be in the range of 9 – 15 million standard cubic meter (MSm3) of recoverable oil equivalent. This corresponds to 56 – 94 million barrels.
“Since the discovery in 2016, we have analyzed the expanded data acquisition conducted during drilling and testing of the well. This has resulted in increased volumes, which gives us an improved economy and a more robust field development project,” said Cara project manager Siri Lunde.
This week, the Cara-licence reached the so-called “Concretization Decision”*, which is the feasibility decision gate in the Norwegian petroleum system.
At this stage, the licencees have identified at least one technical and economically feasible concept that provides a basis for initiating studies that should lead to concept selection by November 2018.
The suggested concept involves a tie-back to the ENGIE E&P operated Gjøa-facilities.
Expected start-up of production at the Cara field is being targeted for late 2020/2021.
License partners in PL 636: Partners in PL636 are: Idemitsu Petroleum (30%), Pandion Energy (20%), Wellesley Petroleum (20%), ENGIE E&P (30%, Operator).