Offshore staff
CALGARY -- Cirrus Energy has exercised an option to use the jackup Noble Lynda Bossler to drill two exploration/appraisal wells in the Dutch North Sea.
The contract, which started on April 1, carries a minimum commitment of 120 days at a rate of $89,500/d, with an option to extend the term for a further 120 days at the same rate.
The first of these wells should be spud in mid-April on the M01-Delta prospect in the M01a license, close to the Cirrus-operated M01-A gas field. It will primarily target a Triassic-age Bunter sandstone reservoir in a structural closure mapped on 3-D seismic.
Cirrus estimates the most likely recoverable resource potential at 71 Bcf. It expects the well to take around 50 days to reach its total planned depth of 4,000 m (13,123 ft). Partners are EBN B.V. (50%) and Energy06 Investments B.V. (2.5%).
Thereafter, the rig will drill a deviated appraisal (M07-07) well from the Cirrus-operated M07-A production platform. This will target a Jurassic sandstone structure previously tested in 1996 via the M07-05ST well, which encountered thin, poor-quality Jurassic sands of around 2 m (6.5 ft) net thickness, and which tested gas at 1.2 MMcf/d at the up-dip and thinned edge of a sedimentary wedge.
M07-07 has been designed to intersect the equivalent Jurassic sandstones in a down-flank location where Cirrus anticipates an increased sand thickness. If successful, M07-07 will be completed as a production well and immediately tied into the existing M07-A field gas export infrastructure. Production from the independent, developed M07-A Triassic reservoir should not be affected by the drilling operations.
The well should take 53 days to reach total planned depth of 4,185 m (13,730 ft). Here the partners are EBN, TAQA Offshore, and Energy06 Investments.
Also in the Dutch M quadrant, Cirrus plans to drill the MSG-03 deviated well from an onshore location to test the offshore Q16-Alpha prospect. The primary reservoir target is a Triassic-age Bunter sandstone in a structural closure mapped on 3-D seismic.
Planning is well advanced with a drilling location identified near Rotterdam, and an option has been secured for a suitable land rig has been secured. Subject to approvals, the well should spud this summer, with an estimated drilling time of 56 days to reach total planned depth of 5,050 m (16,568 ft).
4/7/2010
