License issue stalls offshore Dorset well plans

Sept. 15, 2014
InfraStrata and its partners Corfe Energy and Brigantes Energy have modified their drilling plans for the P1918 license offshore Dorset, southern England.

Offshore staff

LONDON– InfraStrata and its partners Corfe Energy and Brigantes Energy have modified their drilling plans for the P1918 license offshore Dorset, southern England.

The plannedCalifornia Quarry-1 well, targeting oil and gas within conventional Jurassic sandstone and limestone reservoirs, needs to be directionally drilled from its onshore location for 600 m (1,968 ft) to access the license.

Earlier this year the petroleum license that included the area of the onshore site was relinquished. The partners will therefore apply for a license over the site of the planned drillpad under the UK’s 14th landward licensing round which closes at the end of October.

As a result they have postponed plans for the site construction and drilling. The offshore P1918 license terms require a well to be drilled before February 2016.

InfraStrata adds that further technical work is under way on the 98/11-3 prospect within a fault block immediately south of the producingWytch Farm onshore/offshore oil field (in the same region).

This prospect was tested in 1989 by Gas Council (Exploration), with the well encountering a 10.5-m (34.5-ft) vertical oil column in the Sherwood sandstone with an oil/water contact at a depth of 1,739 m (5,705 ft) subsea. Reservoir quality appears similar to that observed in Wytch Farm.

InfraStrata plans to re-process twooffshore 3D seismic surveys acquired over the prospect area during 1992 and 1999 and will perform pre-stack depth migration to improve imaging of the structure, which it believes could hold more than 50 MMbbl of recoverable oil.

Following reprocessing of the data, the partners expect to take a decision next year on drilling a new exploration well.

09/15/2014