Offshore staff
READING, UK – Centrica has confirmed a light oil discovery in the Butch structure in the Norwegian North Sea.
Early analysis suggests 30-60 MMboe for the main Butch segment, in which the company has a 40% operating interest.
Further data collection is under way, and a second side track has been spud on the Butch south west compartment.
The well, drilled by theMaersk Guardian, encountered net oil pay of around 55 m (180 ft) in the per Jurassic Ula formation.
According to partner Faroe petroleum, the initial side-track (8/10-4 A) was intended to appraise for additional volumes of oil further down-dip, but this part of the structure proved to be water-bearing.
A technical side-track (8/10-4 T2) was then drilled with the main aim of acquiring pressure data to establish the oil-water contact.
The latest side-track well is designed to prove more oil in the same formation, but further south on the salt dome structure and outside the Butch main discovery.
Butch is 220 km (137 mi) offshore in 66 m (216 ft) water depth, close to infrastructure serving the Ula, Tambar and Gyda fields.
These were the first wells on the Pl 405 license, awarded under Norway’s APA 2006 round.
Faroe’s 2012 Norwegian exploration drilling program will include wells on the Kalvklumpen, Clapton, Cooper and Santana prospects.
12/07/2011
