Japan’s JX Holdings is reported to have encountered signs of non-commercial amounts of oil and gas with its first exploration well drilled off north-west Japan.
Though there was evidence of hydrocarbons in the well, drilled about 30km off the south-west coast of Sado Island in 110m of water, it was evident that JX Holdings upstream unit JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration will have to mull the results before deciding on the next step.
Drilling was halted at a depth of 1,950m due to safety concerns. This was significantly short of the sub-surface target depth of 2,500m.
The company plans to assess data from the well – the deepest drilled offshore Japan to date – between now and the end of March before making a decision.
The probe was the first offshore drill by JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration partnered by Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corporation (Jogmec).
The partners utilised the deep-sea scientific drilling vessel Chikyu, which is owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), and managed through Drilling Company.
The, for now, single well venture is seen as an attempt to revive attempts last mounted in the early 2000s to find new hydrocarbons off Japan to cut its 99% dependence on imported fuels.
Drilling was carried out off Niigata prefecture in 2003 and 2004, but it failed to discover commercial reserves.
Earlier this year, a successful methane hydrates test was conducted on a hydrates well drilled offshore Japan.
The test was conducted using the Chikyou for the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) in the Nankai Trough, approximately 60km off the south-east coast of Japan, as one of the research activities in Japan’s “Methane Hydrate R&D Program”.
As reported in Energy in February, the objective of the test was to establish criteria for commercial production of natural gas from the frozen methane hydrate as early as fiscal 2018, as a means of reducing Japan’s dependency on foreign gas imports.
MH21 estimates that methane hydrate formations in the eastern Nankai Trough hold as much as 40trillion cu.ft of methane in place.
However, commercial production of methane hydrate reserves will require further research and a network of subsea wells.
Recommended for you
