Discovery wells make headlines at a good clip

Aug. 14, 2014
Karoon Gas Australia, a partner in block WA-398-P, says "movable hydrocarbons" were detected in the Pharos-1 well in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia. The well reached a TD of 17,126 ft (5,220 m).
Gene Kliewer • Houston

Karoon Gas Australia, a partner in block WA-398-P, says "movable hydrocarbons" were detected in the Pharos-1 well in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia. The well reached a TD of 17,126 ft (5,220 m).

Pharos-1, the sixth and final well in the Browse basin Phase 2 exploration drilling campaign, is about 5.59 mi (9 km) northeast of Proteus-1 and is a further test of the Proteus-Crown trend. The Pharos-1 targeted an extension of the discovery made at Proteus-1, which established reservoir quality and condensate-bearing gas in the Montara formation.

The objective of the drilling campaign is to better define the size and quality of the reservoir within the exploration permits containing the Greater Poseidon trend.

TheTransocean Legend semisubmersible is drilling the well.

ConocoPhillips is the operator of the WA‐398‐P Browse basin permit in which Karoon Gas currently holds 40%.

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OMV has the production potential of as much as 2,000 boe/d in the Marina 1 exlploraotin well on the Istria XVII block of the Black Sea off Romania.

The company plans to assess the well's commerciality in the coming months to develop and start production from the new reservoir. If the discovery is commercial, OMV could start production in the next three to four years.

OMV (Norge) has discovered oil with its third exploration well on license 537 in the Hoop area of the Norwegian Barents Sea.

The semisubmersibleTransoceanBarents drilled the 7324/7-2 well on the Hanssen structure, 7 km (4.3 mi) northwest of last year's 7324/8-1 Wisting Central oil discovery in 417 m (1,368 ft) of water and 315 km (196 mi) north of Hammerfest in northern Norway.

The well intersected a 20-25 m (65.6-82 ft) gross oil column in the main Stø formation target, with good reservoir properties. A successful formation test followed in the same formation, flowing up to 2,006 b/d of oil and 325,000 cf/d of gas.

Rates from future development wells could be much higher, according to partner Tullow Oil.

At this stage OMV assesses the size of the discovery in the Stø formation at 20-50 MMboe, mostly oil, lifting potential recoverable resources in the Wisting area to 200-500 MMboe. The well will be permanently P&A'd.

Tullow said the partners will likely drill the Hassel and Bjaaland prospects in the eastern part of the Wisting cluster next year.

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Shell has a third major discovery through the Rydberg discovery in the Norphlet play in deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico, further defining the field's Jurassic play. Shell is evaluating the well results but expects the resource base to be about 100 MMboe. The Norphlet discovery, combined with the Appomattox and Vicksburg discoveries, brings the total potential to more than 700 MMboe.

Situated 75 m (120 km) offshore in the Mississippi Canyon block 525 in 7,479 ft (2,280 m) of water, the Rydberg well was drilled to TD of 26,371 ft (8,038 m). TheNobleGlobetrotter I drillship drilled the well, encountering more than 400 ft (122 m) of net oil pay.

The Rydberg discovery is about 10 m (16 km) of the planned Appomattox development.

This is the first discovery for the partnership of Shell (operator, interest 57.2%), Ecopetrol America Inc. (28.5%), and Nexen (14.3%), a wholly owned affiliate of CNOOC Ltd.

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Following two side tracks from the original exploration well that discovered Pil in PL586 outside mid-Norway in April, the combined current resource interval for the Pil and Bue discoveries is now estimated to 80 to 200 MMboe, 80% of which is predicted to be oil and condensate. With such volumes and the reservoir characteristics seen, Spike Exploration says Pil and Bue are commercially viable.

The first side track into the Pil discovery reaching 1.7 km (1 mi) to the northeast of the original Pil discovery well, encountered an 82-m (269-ft) gross oil column in reservoir rocks of good quality. The oil/water contact was encountered deeper than expected. The resource estimate for Pil is 70-170 MMboe.

The second side track into Bue reached 2.1 km (1.3 mi) to the northeast and proved an 18-m (59-ft) gross hydrocarbon column of variable quality. With a different pressure regime in Bue than in Pil, the Bue discovery is considered to be a separate accumulation. The resource estimate for Bue is 6-25 MMboe plus condensate.

PL586 is operated by VNG Norge AS (30%) with partners Spike Exploration Holding AS (30%), Faroe Petroleum Norge AS (25%), and Rocksource Exploration Norway AS (15%).

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ONGC plans to redevelop its offshore Mumbai High (North) field, which will add 7 MM metric tons (7.7 MM tons) of crude oil and 5.253 bcm (1.86 MMcf) of gas by 2030. This project is designed to carry forward the success of the previous two editions of redevelopment projects and to give a new lease on life to the field.

The project will involve the installation of five well platforms, one clamp-on facility for wells at an existing platform, associated pipelines and modifications at 13 platforms, and drilling of 52 new wells and 24 side tracks. The facility parts under the project are scheduled to be installed by April 2016, while drilling of wells and the overall project completion is scheduled for May 2017.

The strategy of this Mumbai High North redevelopment scheme includes opportunities for further development of LI, LII, S1, and other minor reservoirs, along with the major LIII reservoir.

ONGC also reports a new pool discovery at exploratory well Gandhar 699. This new pool discovery in GS-6B sand in the southwestern part of Gandhar field opens up the sector for further field growth.

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Looking ahead toward drilling plans coming in the future, Trinity is looking at additional drilling offshore Trinidad following acquisition of an 80% interest in blocks 1a and 1b from Centrica. The two blocks hold four natural gas discoveries with combined 2C reserves estimated at 268 bcf.

Trinity says that while the fields are appraised, they are undeveloped and plans to begin a development drilling program with an eye on first production possibly as soon as 2017.

The concessions are in 20-35 m (65.6-115 ft) of water in the Gulf of Paria and Trinity says the area could be produced via subsea pipeline to its Brighton land base for use in Trinidad's domestic gas market.

Enteq adds LWD technology

Enteq Upstream has signed a memorandum of understanding with Target Well Controls in Aberdeen, UK.

The MOU outlines how the two companies will integrate the Target Propagation Wave Resistivity (PWR) technology into the Enteq-XXT MWD technology platform. Once integrated, Enteq will assume responsibility for the sales and marketing of the tools in a number of key markets, including Russia and China.

The PWR technology is designed with Enteq-XXT (Tensor) and Geolink compatibility in mind and offers a full range of sizes to meet all hole sizes and markets, including a slim tool for the Russian market.

The PWR is expected to enhance the existing XXT MWD product line by adding advanced LWD capabilities to the service portfolio, said Martin Perry, Enteq's CEO.

For more on MWD/LWD, including Offshore*s annual survey of global service suppliers, see page 60.