UK oil and gas company Hurricane Exploration yesterday gave more information on its Whirlwind basement-reservoir prospect west of Shetland.
Chief executive Robert Trice said that operational conditions during drilling had not permitted an oil sample to be obtained during wireline testing. He added that recent geochemical analysis of the drill cuttings and sidewall cores indicated the potential presence of a 885-foot “true vertical thickness gross oil column over the penetrated limestone and basement interval”.
Hurricane said this recent analysis was positive news for Whirlwind and validated the decision to suspend the well.
It added: “However, it will not be possible to evaluate the reservoir potential of Whirlwind until the well is re-entered and tested.”
Hurricane is moving forward with projects west of Shetland.
It has three basement-reservoir prospects in the area. One of the trio is Lancaster, which was drilled in 2009 and has prospective resources of nearly 150million barrels of light oil. It was flow tested last year and has the potential to produce 15,000 barrels of oil a day.
Second prospect Whirlwind was drilled last year.
Hurricane said previously indications of oil had been observed, but operations had been curtailed by poor weather and the well was suspended for further testing and analysis.
Hurricane has said third prospect Typhoon is of a comparable size to the two others. It has yet to be drilled.
The company said it also had two other discoveries west of Shetland: Strathmore, which contains an estimated 213million barrels of “sticky” oil in place and Tempest, a heavy-oil find overlying Typhoon and containing an estimated 1billion barrels-plus.
It plans to spend this year getting a better understanding of Lancaster and Whirlwind. It then expects to hire a rig to carry out a work programme west of Shetland in 2012, involving exploration and testing. The plan is to move quickly towards first production from Lancaster.
Hurricane is funded privately, with three major institutional investors.
It raised more than £50million early last year in a share placing with investors.
Hurricane has about £18million in the bank, but more funds were expected to be needed by next year.
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