Edison Investment Research

No moveable hydrocarbons in Alaskan Winx-1 well

Initial wireline data points to low quantities of non-mobile oil in both the Nanushuk and Torok formations in Winx-1. The well, drilled by a consortium of independent companies (88 Energy, Red Emperor Resources, Otto Energy and Pantheon Resources )
was targeting the Nanushuk play fairway of Alaska’s North Slope and was looking to build on Repsol’s 2017 success at Horseshoe-1. The Repsol well is located four miles to the west of Winx-1 and had extended the Nanushuk play 20 miles to the south of the Pikka Unit.
Preliminary interpretation indicates that oil saturation and fluid mobility in the Nanushuk was negatively impacted by the presence of dispersed clay in the matrix. While this is a known characteristic elsewhere in the Nanushuk, Winx-1 did not benefit from the presence of further high quality oil saturated sandstones as typically seen in successful wells in the play.

Hydrocarbon discovery for Murphy at Cholula-1 offshore Mexico

While Cairn targets over 500mmboe in upcoming exploration programme

US independent Murphy Oil has encountered oil and gas in its Cholula-1 well in the Salina del Istmo Basin offshore Mexico, though further drilling will be required to confirm commerciality. Murphy was targeting gross mean resources of 220mmboe in the Upper and Lower Miocene and partner Ophir Energy has indicated that the results were broadly in line with pre-drill expectations. The Salina del Istmo Basin is a sub-basin of the Sureste Basin, and sits in deeper waters outboard of the shallower waters of the Zama discovery and Cairn Energy’s three exploration wells planned in 2019. Cholula-1 sits in Block 5, which was the most contested block in Round 1.4 and awarded in December 2016. The well was drilled to 4000m in a water depth of 750m, and was expected to cost just under $47m. Despite the promising results, Ophir has also announced that it is in advanced discussions to sell its 23.33% share of Block 5 for a modest profit.

Exploration Watch: 2019 exploration wells

Worldwide exploration continued to be dominated by ExxonMobil’s ongoing success offshore Guyana, with five discovery wells and the opening up of two new plays. In 2019, this activity will continue, but will be joined by two separate efforts led by Tullow Oil and Repsol that will look to extend this success to the inboard Orinduik and Kanuku blocks. In Latin America attention will also be focused on Mexico, as drilling extends into deeper waters alongside further exploration of the shallower Sureste Basin. In the North Sea, potential high impact wells in the Barents Sea and West of Shetland were deferred into 2019 and activity looks set to increase in these areas this year. Onshore, we look at high impact wells in the Nanushuk trend of Alaska’s North Slope and the frontier region of Western Mongolia. Click here for full report

Record APA awards in Norway

Norway has awarded 83 new production licenses under the 2018 Norwegian APA round which covers the most explored areas of the Norwegian shelf. This is the largest number ever awarded in a single APA round. The licences were mainly distributed across the North Sea with 37 awards, and the Norwegian Sea with 32 awards. The award of 14 licences in the Barents Sea reflects the frontier nature of the region, however this figure continues to grow, with only three licences awarded here in APA 2016 and eight awarded in 2017.(Link to awards maps)

Sound Energy well result highlights reservoir variability in Morocco

Sound Energy’s TE-9 well in the Tendrara Basin in Morocco has encountered poor reservoir in the primary Triassic TAGI target and the well will be plugged and abandoned. The well was the first in a three well exploration campaign and was testing the A1 structure around 25km to the north west of the company’s Tendrara production concession, with a mid-case pre-drill estimate 0.7TCF gas in place. Since 2016, Sound has successfully drilled and tested the TE-6 and TE-7 wells in the core Tendrara area around the TE-5 discovery well, however results from the larger step out wells such as 2017’s TE-8 (which encountered tight TAGI sands to the west)  and exploration further afield in TE-9 have not been as encouraging.

Samo-1 hits water for FAR in Gambia

The first well to be drilled offshore The Gambia since 1979 has encountered water bearing sands in a disappointing result for operator FAR Limited. Samo-1 was targeting best estimate recoverable resources of 825mmbbls oil in shelf edge Albian sandstones located around 5km south of the Cairn operated SNE field in Senegal, in which FAR is also a partner. The well was an extension of and on trend with similar sands in SNE that had been successfully drilled and proven in nine exploration and appraisal wells. Samo-1 was located in Block A2, immediately adjacent to SNE and this proximity was reflected in the well being assigned a COS of 50%.