Columbus yields further gas in North Sea
Offshore staff
LONDON --Serica Energy has found more gas while appraising last year's Columbus discovery (23/16f-11) in the UK central North Sea.
A vertical well 23/16f-12, drilled 3 km (2 mi) north of the discovery well, encountered gas/condensate-bearing Palaeocene sands with a gross gas column of around 60 ft (18.29 m). The productive section, at a depth of 9,665 ft subsea, was 70 ft (21.4 m) higher than in the discovery well.
Reservoir pressure readings suggested this reservoir was separate to that of the earlier well. The full extent of this new accumulation is unclear.
Serica then drilled a sidetrack (23/16f-12z) to a bottom-hole location around 2.2 km (1.37 mi) north of 23/26f-11, the result being gas-condensate-bearing Palaeocene sands similar to those intersected in 2006. In this case, the sands appeared to be in communication with the discovery well.
The company is suspending the sidetrack well for potential use in a development. It recently commissioned an engineering study into producing Columbus via a subsea tieback to BP's Lomond complex. The study concluded this option would be practical, but Serica is also looking at alternative routes that would facilitate an early development.
11/06/2007