Offshore staff
REYKJAVÍK, Iceland – China National Offshore Co. (CNOOC), Eykon Energy, and Norwegian state oil company Petoro Iceland met at the end of September as they attempt to move forward with exploration on the Icelandic continental shelf.
News of the meeting came from the Icelandic national energy authority Orkustofnun.
In 2014, the agency granted a license to aCNOOC-led consortium comprising Eykon and Petoro for the Dreki Area on the Jan Mayen Ridge micro-continent, located northeast of the Icelandic coastline. Of the Dreki Area, Orkustofnun says there are geological similarities to the western Norwegian continental shelf, the Faroe Islands, and Shetland. The area is around 9 million years old with sediments that can reach up to 4 km (2.5 mi) thick.
At the meeting, CNOOC discussed initial results of a 2D seismic survey that occurred last fall. Orkustofnun said that all results should be finalized on schedule, by 2017. CNOOC said that it would like to continue with 3D seismic at certain locations, which would be selected by the end of 2017 so that acquisition could begin immediately afterward.
Assuming positive results from the 3D seismic survey, an initial exploration well would be drilled between 2022 and 2026. Orkustofnun said that past experience shows that a discovery could take 10 years to enter production, and that the state was still uncertain whether hydrocarbons were present in Dreki, and if they are commercially viable.
10/07/2016
