Harbour Energy and Petrogas set to drill North Sea exploration wells

North Sea operators Harbour Energy and Petrogas are set to drill two exploration wells in the UK Continental Shelf in the coming months.

Operators have significantly scaled back exploration drilling in the UK North Sea in recent years. Shell and Deltic Energy drilled the first well of 2024 at the Selene prospect last month.

But Harbour and Petrogas will soon join Shell in undertaking North Sea campaigns after environmental regulator OPRED granted approval.

Harbour Energy Gilderoy well

According to the approval documents, Harbour (LON:HBR) will drill the Gilderoy well at licence 15/28b using the Paul B. Loyd Jnr semi-submersible rig.

The campaign will take an estimated 46 days between August 2024 and the end of July 2025.

The drilling will take place approximately 144km northeast of Aberdeen, part of Harbour’s Greater Britannia Area (GBA).

Gilderoy is planned as a tie-back to the GBA.

Petrogas Baker well

Meanwhile, Omani firm Petrogas will drill the Baker well at licence 47/3f in the Southern North Sea.

Petrogas will use the Noble Resilient jack up rig to drill the well, which is located approximately 37km from the Yorkshire coast.

© Supplied by Noble

Offshore assets close to the Baker well include the Perenco-operated Minerva platform and the Spirit Energy-operated York platform.

Last year, Petrogas set out plans to drill Baker, which it farmed into in 2022, alongside its Abbey discovery.

Baker, in P2433, has a competent persons report last year citing 56 billion cubic feet of prospective resources.

Abbey, in licence P2582, has audited proven and probable reserves of 111 billion standard cubic feet (bscf) of sales gas and 0.6 million barrels (MMbbl) of condensate.

Noble previously said the two-well deal is expected to last a minimum of 120 days at a rate of $133,000 per day, and is expected to start in Q3 2024.

Petrogas operates both assets, owning 85% of Abbey and 70% of Baker.

According to OPRED documents, the Baker operations will take 58 days to complete, but due to potential delays or pauses the project end date is set to 31 January 2025.

Petrogas may delay drilling at the Baker well and move the Noble Resilient to Abbey, which the firm needs to complete in time for an operation later this year.