Hopes are rising that the Tornado oil and gas discovery west of Shetland is large enough to be brought into production.
Aberdeen companies Dana Petroleum and Faroe Petroleum said yesterday that oil and gas had been found in a sidetrack well at the prospect.
Last month, the two firms said oil and gas had been located at Tornado. The discovery and sidetrack wells were drilled by operator OMV, the Austrian national oil and gas company.
Pre-drill estimates were for Tornado to have 90million-100million barrels of oil equivalent recoverable. Dana said last month that the thickness and quality of the Tornado reservoir was in line with pre-drill expectations.
The company added yesterday: “The gas-oil contact which was penetrated in the original well was encountered in the sidetrack at the same depth.
“An oil-water contact was penetrated in the sidetrack consistent with the oil column observed in the original well. Extensive sampling of the fluids has been undertaken.”
Dana chief executive Tom Cross said: “We are delighted to have discovered oil and gas in both the original Tornado well and the sidetrack well.
“A thorough analysis of data gathered is already underway.”
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe, said: “We are very pleased to report the successful outcome of the sidetrack appraisal well, which has reconfirmed the presence of a significant accumulation of hydrocarbons and, based on the preliminary logging data, the results exceed the prognosed (forecast) net hydrocarbon column and has found better-than-predicted reservoir quality.
“With the benefit of the substantial data we now have, further extensive analysis will be undertaken in the coming months to determine the optimum means of exploiting this exciting discovery.
“The Tornado discovery also has a positive and exciting impact on Faroe’s 100% held L002 (Faroe) and P1552 (UK) licences, on which we are now commencing a new programme of analysis with the benefit of the substantial new Tornado data.”
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.
Mr Stewart would like to see a decision on how best to develop Tornado, either as a standalone project or with other fields, within 12-18 months.
Participants in the Tornado well are Dana 30%, OMV 35%, Dong Energy 20%, Faroe Petroleum 7.5% and Idemitsu E&P 7.5%.