Seven wells are currently active on the NCS . . . six exploration; one appraisal. Four are North Sea, two Norwegian Sea and one in the Barents.
There are nine active development/production wells utilising mobile units in the sector, all North Sea. There are 38 units on the NCS . . . six on E&A duties and nine on D&P drilling. In addition, eight fixed platform D&P wells were operating as October closed.
Of the remaining 23 MODUs, three are stacked in port, including the XL Enhanced 2, which is a new-build; the remaining 20 are either mobilising between drilling locations or working on in-field operations.
North Sea
Of the four wells currently active, Total continues with side-tracked appraisal well 34/6-3 A on the Garantiana II Prospect where the Leiv Eiriksson is wrapping up plugging operations.
On an adjacent block, Lundin has drilled a dry hole on the Vollgrav South prospect with well 33/12-10 S utilising the Bredford Dolphin.
Statoil has completed appraisal well 25/8-18 S having encountered oil and gas in the Hedila Prospect with the Transocean Leader, and the Maersk Gallant continues with well 2/4-22 S on the Romeo prospect, also for Statoil.
Just south of the North Sea/Norwegian Sea median line, the Transocean Winner has just spudded well 33/2-1 on the Storm prospect and, most recently, the Island Innovator kicked off well 25/10-12 S on the Kopervik prospect; both with Lundin as operator.
Norwegian Sea
Two wells are active . . . the Shell-operated Ormen Lange appraisal, 6305/8-2, targeting the D-Far South prospect with the Transocean Barents and Centrica’s deepwater well 6707/10-3 S on the Ivory prospect with the West Navigator.
Barents Sea
Lundin has made a substantial discovery having completed drilling the Alta prospect 7220/11-1 well with the Island Innovator. Statoil spudded well 7227/10-1 mid-month on the Saturn Prospect with the Transocean Spitsbergen.
Summary
Staying on par with last month’s figures E&A activity levels on the NCS remain relatively low with only six wells active at month’s end.
The eagerly awaited Garantiana II appraisal is drawing to a close and although a commercial discovery has already been proven, maximising reserves in this substantial asset will be at the forefront of the PL554 consortium’s mind for the foreseeable future.
Three out of four wells completed during the month have resulted in discoveries with two of these located in the Barents Sea.
Isfjell proved a small amount of gas north of Johan Castberg, however it is to the south where Lundin’s Alta discovery is making the headlines with an estimated 125–400million barrels oil equivalent of recoverable hydrocarbons identified; a large percent of this being oil.
Couple this with the close proximity to Lundin’s Gohta Discovery to the south and it is little wonder that Alta is being heralded as a potential game changer for the northern region.
This column by David Moseley and Matthias Sasso is courtesy of North Sea analysts Hannon Westwood
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