Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway -- Gaz de France (GDF) has secured the semisubmersible drilling rig Aker Barents to drill the first exploration well in license PL 530 in the Norwegian Barents Sea. According to partner Rocksource, the well should spud in September 2011.
Rocksource estimates that the well’s primary target on the Heilo prospect contains mean recoverable resources of 200 MMboe, with a chance of success of over 50%. The company has high-graded risk and volumetric estimates based on evaluation of integrated electromagnetic (EM) data.
Rocksource COO Gregor Maxwell said: “Over the last years Rocksource has tested over 100 prospects with EM technology, and has concluded positively on approximately 20 of these. This is the sub-set that is matured towards drilling, and Rocksource aims to drill four to five wells per year going forward.”
The PL 530 license is on the southernmost part of the Bjarmeland Platform/eastern edge of the Hammerfest basin, on trend with the Goliat and Tornerose discoveries to the west and the Nucula discovery to the southeast. Several prospects and leads have been identified in the license, with prospectivity thought to be present at multiple reservoir levels. After processing the EM data, Rocksource concluded that a resistivity anomaly is associated with the main prospect (Heilo), probably caused by hydrocarbons.
The PL 530 partnership comprises GDF Suez Norge AS, Front Exploration, North Energy, and Rocksource.
9/14/2010
