Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Faroe Petroleum has issued an update on Centrica’s Cooper oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea.
Well 6506/11-9 S was drilled by the semisubmersibleWest Alpha in production license 477, 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the producing Morvin field, in 249 m (817 ft) water depth.
The main objective was to prove hydrocarbons in the Middle Jurassic Garn, Ile, Tofte, and Tilje formations, with a secondary target in the Cretaceous Lysing and Lange formations.
The well encountered oil in a 59-m (193-ft) gross section within the Garn formation and 10 m (33 ft) within the Ile formation, and oil was encountered in thin sand stringers within the Cretaceous Lysing and Lange formations.
However, adrillstem test (DST) on the Garn formation flowed no hydrocarbons to surface. Formation and pressure tests confirmed restricted flow within the reservoir, but interpretation of potential fluid contacts was not possible.
The partnership will assess how the results impact the remaining license potential. This was the first well drilled on the license, awarded under Norway’s APA 2007 round. It will be P&A’d.
Graham Stewart, Faroe’s chief executive, said: “Although the DST results on the Garn formation were disappointing we take encouragement from the discoveries made at multiple horizons and that the poor flow characteristics of the Jurassic reservoir observed in this well are not seen in the other nearby producing fields.
“We will continue to evaluate the large amount of data that has been collected in the Cooper well to try to resolve why the Garn formation is tight and whether this is likely to be a local or a field-wide reservoir phenomenon.”
West Alpha will head to a shipyard in Ølen, Norway, for upgrades, modifications, and re-certifications.
8/24/2012
