Offshore staff
LONDON – Shell’s (NYSE:RDS.A) latest exploratory well offshore French Guiana is being P&A’d as a dry hole, according to partner Northern Petroleum (AIM:NOP).
TheGM-ES-3 (Priodontes) well is in 1,750 m (5,741 ft) of water and terminates at 6,318 m (20,728 ft). The well had reached sufficient depth to evaluate the deeper potential reservoir, Northern says, encountering an estimated 65 m (213 ft) of target formation, but with no indications of hydrocarbons.
The drillshipStena ICEMax will next drill the GM-ES-4 (Cebus) well, designed to test a different fan system to the previous three wells on the Guyane Maritime permit. The first of these, GM-ES-1, discovered oil in the Zaedyus structure in 2011.
Angus McCoss, exploration director of Tullow Oil, said: “Although this well did not encounter significant hydrocarbons, we have added substantially to our knowledge of the formations in this frontier exploration area.
“The campaign now moves to the Cebus prospect, which is located in a separate fan to Zaedyus and Priodontes. This means that there is limited read-across for Cebus from the wells drilled thus far. However, all have demonstrated, to differing degrees, that the Cingulata fan system has been charged with oil and Cebus is an excellent prospect from which we can expect a result later this year.”
4/23/2013
