At the end of March seven E&A wells were active on the NCS, two less than last month; five exploration and two appraisals using five semi-submersibles and two jack-ups..
In the first of our regular Hannon Westwood reports on Norwegian drilling, we can report that no new wells were spudded during the month, but two were completed.
A further 16 development/production wells were active with 12 of these using mobile units; seven of these spudded during the month bringing the total number of development spuds in 2012 to 25.
North Atlantic Drilling’s jack-up West Elara has started a five-year contract with Statoil; it is in the Gullfaks Sør field, apparently awaiting spud consent. Meanwhile, the semi-submersible Scarabeo 8 is undergoing final inspection in Olen prior to starting work in the Goliat area for Eni.
In the North Sea, five wells were active at month end; four exploration and one appraisal. Lundin’s appraisal of the southern flank of Avaldesnes (Johan Sverdrup) on Licence PL 501, well 16/2-11, with the Bredford Dolphin has encountered 54m (177ft) of good reservoir in the Upper and Middle Jurassic, with a drill-stem test on the previously untested Middle Jurassic yielding over 2,700 barrels of oil per day. A planned 25 days sidetrack is now in progress.
The COSL Pioneer reached total depth in the Lower Triassic on Statoil’s high impact Crux prospect well 30/6-28 S on PL053. The primary objective was water bearing, but the secondary Lower Jurassic Statfjord objective on the Crimp prospect had a 12m (39ft) oil column estimated to contain 12-18million barrels. These reserves are likely to be fast-tracked to development. The well will be completed before the rig moves to the Glitne field.
The Maersk Gallant remains on Statoil’s well 2/4-21. This HP/HT well on the King Lear prospect in PL146, is chasing Upper Jurassic sands.
Maersk Guardian continues operations on Det Norske’s deviated Upper Jurassic Storebjørn well 7/12-13 S on PL450, destined to reach about 5,600m.
Wintershall’s exploration well, 35/9-7, is being drilled on the Middle Jurassic Skarfjell prospect by the Songa Delta. Operations are expected to last 50-60 days.
In the Norwegian Sea Maersk abandoned well 6406/3-9 on March 26 as sub-commercial. Oil was encountered at both levels in the Lower Cretaceous T-Rex and Bolan prospects on PL431, but reservoir quality was poorer than expected.
The rig now moves to the North Sea to drill production well 24/6-B-5 on Alvheim for Marathon.
Well 6407/1-5 S, spudded by Wintershall on February 1 by the Songa Delta has a planned duration of 60 days and is appraising the Middle Jurassic Maria discovery made by well 6406/3-8 in 2010.
RWE’s 6507/7-15S, an HP/HT exploration well on the Lower/Middle Jurassic Zidane 2 prospect at Licence PL435 is ongoing. The target is adjacent to and analogous with the 2010 gas-condensate Zidane discovery (well 6507/07-14 S).
Operations were completed on the only well active in the Barents Sea on March 25. Well 7220/5-1, Statoil’s appraisal of the 2011 Jurassic Skrugard discovery (well 7220/8-1), has been successful with a 74m hydrocarbon column (26m gas and 48m oil) encountered. The appraisal was drilled by the Transocean (Aker) Barents.
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