Faroe Petroleum said yesterday a well and sidetrack well on the Breagh gas discovery in southern North Sea block 42/13 had been tested successfully.
The Aberdeen oil and gas company said testing had proved dry gas at a maximum rate of 26million cubic feet per day from various intervals, and the results would be incorporated into the partnership’s reservoir model to optimise the well requirements for the development.
Faroe said that the horizontal well 42/13-5z had encountered about 1,200ft of gas-bearing sands, and was being suspended as a future producer. Chief executive Graham Stewart said: “We are very pleased to confirm all of the objectives set for the appraisal of the Breagh field during the 2008 drilling campaign have been achieved.
“Additional gas was proved up with the 42/13-4 well, and the operator – Sterling Resources – has now drilled and tested the 42/13-5z well, bringing the Breagh field one step closer to development.”
Partners in the licence, which has two finds in East Breagh and West Breagh, are operator Sterling (45%) EnCore (15%), RegEnergys (15%), Faroe (10%), Stratic (10%) and Petro Ventures (5%).
Mr Stewart has said previously that the Breagh complex could become one of the largest gas developments in the UK North Sea in recent years. He has also said that while it had been talked about as potentially having 1trillion cu ft of gas in place – more than 160million barrels of oil equivalent – of which typically 60-90% was recoverable, operator Sterling had not yet commented on this.
Alan Booth, EnCore’s chief executive, said: “We are especially pleased both with the results of the 42/13-5z well and the overall Breagh appraisal programme.
“This well, in particular, has added significantly to our understanding of the continuity and characteristics of the Breagh reservoir. These encouraging results give us momentum to move the Breagh field on to the next phase of its development.”