Offshore staff
LONDON -- Providence has concluded its appraisal drilling operation on the northwest flank of the Hook Head oil discovery, offshore southern Ireland. The company is now preparing to begin drilling operations on its nearby Dunmore oil discovery.
The semisubmersibleGSF Arctic II drilled the well to 4,875 ft (1,486 m) true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS). All geological horizons in the Wealden sand package were within the pre-drill depth prognosis and oil and gas shows were encountered while drilling, the company says.
The well encountered 30 ft (9.1 m) of net hydrocarbon bearing Lower Cretaceous sands above the primary objective, which is of an equivalent age to those logged as being hydrocarbon bearing in the 50/11-3 well. Reservoir quality across these intervals was excellent with average porosities of c. 27%, the company says
The net hydrocarbon bearing intervals in the 50/11-4 well were substantially less than that which was expected in the pre-drill estimates, and the company and its partners plugged and abandoned the 50/11-4 well. The initial well results suggest that the majority of the Hook Head resource lies in the central part of the structure already demonstrated by the 50/11- 1 and 50/11-3 wells, however, the northwest flank could potentially provide additional incremental resources for any future development in the area. The 50/11-4 well results will now be integrated into the Hook Head full field model before finalizing forward plans for the accumulation, the company says.
The company has now started the process to move off Hook Head and mobilize the drilling unit to the Dunmore oil appraisal well (50/6-D), north of Hook Head. Drilling on Dunmore is expected to begin within 10 days.
08/26/2008
