Aberdeen oil and gas companies Dana Petroleum and Faroe Petroleum announced success in drilling the Tornado prospect west of Shetland, where they have found gas and oil.
The discovery well was drilled by operator OMV, the Austrian national oil and gas company. Pre-drill estimates were for Tornado to have 90-100million barrels of oil equivalent recoverable.
Dana said yesterday that the thickness and quality of the Tornado reservoir was in line with pre-drill expectations. Chief executive Tom Cross said: “We are retaining the rig to drill a sidetrack well deeper to find out how much we have got, and should have results within about three weeks.
“The discovery also bodes well for the nearby Anne Marie prospect in Faroese waters, which we believe is a similar size to Tornado.”
Both Dana and Faroe have minority stakes in Anne Marie, which is operated by Italian oil major Eni.
Tornado is about six miles north-west of the Suilven discovery and 18 miles north-west of the Schiehallion, Foinaven and Loyal producing fields and therefore within tieback distance.
Participants in the well are OMV 35%, Dana 30%, Dong Energy 20%, Faroe 7.5%, and Idemitsu E&P 7.5%.
Mr Cross, whose firm holds a 27.5% stake in Faroe, said: “The discovery of hydrocarbons at Tornado is an important result as it lies in an area of the UK continental shelf where Dana and Faroe have very strong positions.
“We look forward to the sidetrack well to determine the ultimate size of this new field.”
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe, said: “Tornado is Faroe’s second Atlantic Margin exploration success, following within a month of the Glenlivet gas discovery.
“The Tornado well is the second of a five-well Atlantic Margin exploration drilling programme which Faroe is undertaking over the coming months. We are scheduled to participate in three more high impact exploration wells: on the Anne Marie oil prospect in the Faroes, the BP-operated Cardhu oil prospect and Chevron-operated Lagavulin oil prospect.”
Dana also said operations had been completed on its September exploration prospect in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt, but hydrocarbons had not been found.
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