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Oil and gas explorer Faroe Petroleum said today it was still excited about the Butch South West prospect despite a failed side-track well.
The Centrica-operated well on the Butch South West prospect in the Norwegian North Sea had to be plugged and abandoned due to technical difficulties, Aberdeen-based Faroe said.
It was a second side-track on the prospect drilled to find more oil south of the Butch prospect, described as “an exciting new oil play” with an estimated 30-60million barrels of oil equivalent.
Faroe said planning was now underway to carry out a new appraisal and exploration campaign to test what more can be found in the area.
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe, said: “Although it is disappointing that we failed to reach the reservoir target due to drilling difficulties, we remain excited about the prospect, and subject to availability of a suitable rig we hope to be back drilling again in Licence PL405 in 2012 or 2013.
“Butch is an attractive discovery in its own right, and it has de-risked several additional attractive exploration opportunities on similar prospects around the large Butch salt structure.
“Drilling the side-track on Butch South West represented an opportunity to test an additional exploration target to the south of the new discovery, whilst recognising that drilling it from this location would be challenging.”
Faroe holds 15% in Butch, Centrica 40%, Suncor Energy Norge 30% and Spring Energy Norway 15%.
Faroe said drilling operations on the T-Rex well in Norway were continuing.
Its 2012 exploration drilling programme would include Kalvklumpen (Norway), North Uist (UK, west of Shetlands), Clapton (Norway), Cooper (Norway) and Santana (Norway).