Edison Investment Research

UKCS 31st round awards reflect ongoing shift in mix of North Sea companies

37 licences have been offered to 30 companies in the 31st Offshore Licensing round, which focused on frontier areas of the North Sea. The round has followed recent trends seen in the basin, as European supermajors concentrate on specific areas and US companies leave the region to focus on US shale opportunities. Shell, BP, Total and Equinor are all represented and of these, Equinor has picked up the most awards with five, including four as operator.

Blackrock hits oil West of Shetland

Siccar Point Energy has announced that the Blackrock exploration well, 204/5b-2,  has encountered oil in a number of thin sandstones, though it has not been declared commercial. The prospect sits on the Corona Ridge between the Cambo and Rosebank fields and was targeting 200mmbbls in the Paleocene Flett reservoir, which rests on the volcanics of the Colsay Member. Gas was also encountered in the overlying Hildasay member. The well was the first to test the additional potential of Siccar’s acreage around its Cambo field, which it estimates could be up to 1.5bnbbls.

Verbier appraisal points to lower than expected resources

UK independent Jersey Oil and Gas (JOG) has announced that the Verbier appraisal well, 20/05b-14, has not encountered the targeted Upper Jurassic sands as expected, resulting in a likely downward revision of resources to the low end of pre-drill estimates. The objective of the Equinor operated appraisal well was to refine the estimated resource volume range of 25 – 130mmboe, with a mid case of 69mmboe. Verbier sits 8km to the north west of the Buchan field (now decommissioned), and was discovered on pre-broadband 3D seismic.

No magic at Presto as well comes up dry

The exploration well Presto in the Norwegian North Sea has encountered good reservoir quality rocks, but, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, hydrocarbons were not present. UK independent Cairn Energy holds a 30% stake in the Equinor operated PL885 licence. The well was targeting 160mmboe gross mean resources in the Lower Cretaceous Agat sandstones with a secondary objective in shallower stacked channelised turbidite fan complexes in the Upper Cretaceous

Gjøkåsen Deep is third well to disappoint in frontier south eastern Barents

Lundin Petroleum has announced that the Equinor operated 7132/2-2 well, Gjøkåsen Deep, did not discover hydrocarbons. Sandstones of varying quality were encountered in the late and early Triassic primary objectives, and a deeper extension to evaluate the underlying reservoir potential did not encounter reservoir rocks. The well was located in production licence PL857 and Lundin had assigned 428mmboe gross prospective resources to the prospect. The well followed on from the Gjøkåsen Shallow well (also in PL857) which had been estimated by Lundin to hold 768mmboe, but came up dry in February this year.

Orinduik resource upgrade for Eco Atlantic offshore Guyana

Company adds mainly Tertiary prospects to portfolio

A CPR carried out for Eco Atlantic by Gustavson Associates LLC has increased the gross prospective resources (P50) in its Orinduik Block, offshore Guyana, from 2,913mmboe to 3,981mmboe. The new figure was assessed after taking into account ExxonMobil’s Hammerhead Tertiary discovery, together with the processing and interpretation of 2,550km2 3D seismic acquired in 2017.

The bulk of the increase is due to the addition of five new leads, of which four, Jethro, Jethro Ext, Joe and HH are all targeting the Tertiary.