Shell is to abandon its drilling off French Guiana for the next two years after disappointing exploration results, according to a partner in the project
One well off the country’s coast is still drilling and due to complet in November, but three unsuccessful attempts so far have left Shell and its partners putting further plans on the shelf.
Keith Bush, chief executive officer at project partner Northern Petroleum, said the partners may design a new drilling program in 2015.
“Post this, there is going to be a lot of work done on the integration from the well data,” he said.
“Whether this well is a discovery or not, we will need to look at where we want to be once the work program’s being conducted next year.”
Shell and its partners, including Total and Wessex Exploration, are thought to have invested more than $800million to drill four wells off following Tullow’s find off the South American country’s coast in 2011.
Since that Zaedyus well find, however, the project has failed to find commercial resources, Bush admitted.
Kirsten Smart, a spokeswoman in London at Shell, declined to comment. Tullow and Total spokesmen also refused to comment.
Shell took over the Guyane Maritime operation in February 2012 from Tullow, a month after they announced “a frontier exploration partnership” in the Atlantic basin.
Exploration is risky and many wells may be needed to prove commercial reserves, Bush said. The company plans to maintain its minority stake in the project until the study is completed.
“There’s been a consensus in the joint venture in terms of the locations and things like that,” Bush said. “Until you drill, you don’t know what you’ve got.”
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