FAROE Petroleum said yesterday that drilling had started on the Glenlivet gas prospect west of Shetland.
The Aberdeen company has a 10% stake in Glenlivet, near the proposed Laggan gas-export pipeline to Sullom Voe.
Faroe said a discovery at Glenlivet could become a significant part of the planned new UK gas-gathering system for the west of Shetland.
The drilling, to be undertaken by operator Dong E&P using the Transocean Rather semisubmersible rig, is expected to take about 40 days.
Faroe chief executive Graham Stewart said: “The Glenlivet well is an exciting high-impact exploration prospect from our strategically significant west-of-Shetland acreage and is part of a 2009 two-well drilling programme which Faroe is currently undertaking in this area.
“The other west-of-Shetland well we are scheduled to drill this year is the Tornado exploration well, which is expected to commence in the next few weeks. These two wells are part of Faroe’s firm and funded nine-well exploration programme to be drilled over the next 24 months.”
Gas producer BG Group said testing on a well it and partner Petrobras drilled offshore Brazil did not confirm hydrocarbons, despite an initial examination suggesting gas could be present.
A spokeswoman for BG said that, while the Corcovado-2 well in the BMS-52 block had failed to live up to earlier hopes, the UK group was still evaluating the well results and that the company planned to continue drilling at another site on the block.
