Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Rystad Energy has identified what it considers the top 30 high-impact wells that are expected to be drilled this year, with the lion’s share located in the Americas and Africa.
Five of the wells are in North America, seven in South America, and six in Africa. Of the remaining wells, four are scheduled to be drilled in Asia, three each in Oceania and the Middle East, and two in Europe.
Rystad classifies wells as high-impact through an assessment of key factors, including the size of the prospects, whether they could open new hydrocarbon plays in frontier or emerging basins, and their significance to the operator.
Shell and Eni will drill the Chibu and Ehecatl prospects in their respective blocks offshore Mexico, targeting a collective 350 MMboe of gross unrisked resources.
The seven high-impact wells scheduled to be drilled in South America will target gross predrill resources of more than 5 Bboe.
Among Africa’s high-impact wells, Guinea Bissau’s deepwater Atum well will target a potential 470 MMboe.
During the past three years, 95 high-impact wells have been drilled globally, with 40 of them resulting in discoveries – equating to a 42% success rate. In 2019, the success rate of the 35 high-impact wells drilled was only 31%.
Although 2019 was a disappointing year in terms of high-impact well drilling, comparatively stable market conditions are favoring new exploration activity in 2020 for areas that combine high risk and high rewards, according to the analyst.
02/05/2020
