Offshore staff
EDINBURGH, UK – Cairn Energy’s second operated well offshore Mexico was a dry hole, the company revealed in its latest operational review.
The Bitol-1 well, drilled by the semisubmersible Maersk Developer on block 9 around 120 km (74.6 mi) northwest of Villahermosa, was designed to pursue hydrocarbons in stacked Pliocene and Miocene targets. It encountered oil shows in good quality, water-bearing sandstones.
Drilling continues on the Eni-operated Ehecatl-1 well in block 7 (Cairn 30%), targeting stacked objectives in the Lower Miocene. The semisub Valaris 8505 is performing the operation in 426 m (1,397 ft) of water.
In block 15 in Mexico’s Tampico-Misantla basin, an environmental baseline survey was completed early last year, and studies continue of the acreage.
Cairn is currently withdrawing from four exploration blocks in the Sandino basin offshore western Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean. The company supported operator Equinor during seismic acquisition and evaluation but decided against proceeding to the planned drilling phase.
Elsewhere, the company has opted to farm into 40% of the Total-operated block C7 off Mauritania, pending government approval. The block contains a turbidite fan play in a proven oil province. Drilling could start during the second half of next year.
In 2019, Israel’s government awarded Cairn was awarded eight licenses under the country’s second offshore bid round. The company operates two of these in partnership with Ratio Oil Exploration and Pharos Energy: the partners plan to re-process existing 3D seismic to assess the prospectivity.
Finally, Cairn has entered an asset exchange agreement with Shell UK under which it will transfer a 50% stake in UK North Sea license P2379 in exchange for 50% WI of P2380.
Each concession carries a commitment to drill an exploration well: both wells are set to be drilled over the period from H2 2020 to H1 2021.
03/10/2020
