Energean has signed up a rig from Stena Drilling to work on up to five wells offshore Israel.
The company plans to spud the first well in the first quarter of 2022. The work will include three firm wells and two optional, it said.
The drilling programme aims to derisk prospective recoverable resources of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Stena IceMAX drillship will carry out the work.
Energean is “delighted to be working with Stena again”, said Energean CEO Mathios Rigs. The “five-well programme follows the three-well development drilling programme and 243 mmboe Karish North discovery, all successfully executed with Stena over 2019 and 2020”.
The company said the wells would include the Karish North development well, which aims to prove up 33 billion cubic metres of gas. It expects first gas from this development in the second half of 2023.
The next two wells are the Karish Main-04 appirasal well and Athena exploration well. The latter is on Block 12 and is targeting up to 20 bcm of gas. The primary target has a potential 10 bcm of gas with a 70% geological chance of success.
The five well programme would double Energean’s reserve base, Rigas said. “Combined with first gas from our flagship Karish gas development project in mid-2022, the next 12-months are set to be truly transformational for Energean.”
The Athena well is close to where the Energean Power floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel will be located.
Australia’s FAR recently announced a contract for the Stena rig. The Stena IceMAX will go to the Bambo-1 well this year, offshore The Gambia.