Shell (LON:SHLE) and DNO (OSLO:DNO) haven’t given up on a North Sea licence just year, despite a lack of success in the area so far.
Further studies will be undertaken into UK license P255 using data acquired from the drilling of the Edinburgh well.
DNO revealed last month that the prospect would be plugged and abandoned after it failed to encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.
That’s despite it previously being dubbed as a well to watch by research consultancy Westwood Global Energy Group.
Edinburgh was spudded in March to a total depth of 16,500 feet, and encountered two sandstones of Jurassic age.
But wireline logging indicated no movable hydrocarbons within the sandstones, despite previous estimates placing volumes at the prospect between 100 and 675 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Shell has a 40% operated stake in Edinburgh, which sits on the UK-Norway border of the North Sea.
Norwegian operator DNO and Spirit Energy hold a 45% and 15% interest in the licence respectively.
Despite the setback, data collected during the spudding of Edinburgh will be “integrated with existing seismic data” and “further studies will be undertaken” to assess the remaining potential within the licenses.
An update shared by the Kingfisher Bulletin earlier this week also revealed the Valaris 122 jack-up has been booked to carry out drilling operations at the Edinburgh field.
The single-well campaign is expected to last approximately 160 days.
DNO confirmed the Edinburgh partners were still exploring opportunities in the region in its second quarter results, published on Thursday.
In the first half of the year, the Oslo-listed firm took in revenue of $700 million, almost exactly double the 2021 figure of $354m.
Operating profit for the period was $317m, up from $127m in the same timeframe last year.
DNO said its “strong operational and financial results and cash flow” had been “powered by high oil and gas prices”.
Recommended for you
