Well Slot is a monthly feature where Westwood’s Stephen Coomber looks at drilling activity and rig moves in UK and Norwegian waters.
As of 22 March, Westwood Global Energy reports that there are no exploration or appraisal wells active on the UK Continental Shelf.
No well programmes have spudded in 2024 to date and no wells are expected to spud until June when the Shell-operated 48/8b Selene well is due to start operations.
Norway forges ahead as UK has no exploration
As of 22 March, Westwood Global Energy reports that there are three exploration wells active on the NCS, with Frigg-GammaDelta Ypsilon and Ringhorne Nord in the NNS, and Lavrans (exploration segment) in the Norwegian Sea. One appraisal well is active at Wisting in the Barents Sea.
Since the previous report, one appraisal/exploration well programme has completed at Heisenberg/Hummer in the NNS.
Barents Sea
The Equinor-operated 7324/7-4 Wisting appraisal well was spudded on 17 March with the Deepsea Stavanger semi-sub. The well is targeting the water leg of the Middle – Lower Jurassic Wisting discovery to collect rock mechanics data. No oil is expected to be encountered.
© Supplied by Var EnergiNorwegian Sea
The 6406/2-L-2 H Lavrans well, operated by Equinor, was spudded on 19 January 2024 with the Transocean Spitsbergen. The well is targeting the Middle and Lower Jurassic and, if successful, will be completed as a producer and tied back to Kristin.
The 6507/4-4 S, A Adriana/Sabina appraisal well, operated by Wintershall Dea, was completed on 20 February, after being spudded on 21 December 2023 with the Transocean Norge semi-sub. The 6507/4-4 S Adriana well confirmed gas in the Upper Cretaceous Lysing Formation. The 6507/4-4 A Sabina well aimed to appraise the gas condensate and oil discovery in deeper Cretaceous reservoirs but was abandoned due to drilling issues. The well has been P&A gas.
© Supplied by PerencoNorth Sea
The 25/2-25 S Frigg-GammaDelta Ypsilon well, operated by AkerBP, was spudded on 9 March with the Scarabeo 8 semi-sub. The well will target the Eocene in the Ypsilon prospect, followed by two long-reach horizontal appraisal wells along the north and south flanks of the Frigg-GammaDelta structure. The pre-drill resource range is 9 – 22 mmboe.
The Equinor-operated 35/10-11 S, A Heisenberg/Hummer well was completed on 8 March, having spudded on 7 February with the Deepsea Stavanger semi-sub. The well appraised the Eocene Heisenberg discovery, drilled in 2023, and targeted the deeper Eocene Hummer prospect. Post-drill resources of 24 – 56 mmboe were quoted for Heisenberg and 0.6 – 3.8 mmboe for the Hummer discovery. The well was P&A oil and gas.
The 25/8-23 S, A, B Ringhorne Nord well, operated by Vår Energi, was spudded on 31 January 2024 with the Deepsea Yantai semi-sub. The ILX well is targeting Paleocene, Lower Jurassic and Triassic reservoir, with pre-drill resources of 28 mmboe.
The Harbour-operated 15/9-25 Amethyst Muskovitt well was completed on 7 March, after being spudded on 9 January with the Noble Integrator jackup rig. The well encountered a gas column in the Paleocene Muskovitt prospect, but the Middle Jurassic Amethyst prospect was water bearing. Post-drill resources are c. 38 – 113 bcf. The well was P&A gas.
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