Offshore staff
LONDON-- Nautical Petroleum expects to resume drilling this month on the Kraken heavy oil accumulation in the UK northern North Sea.
The semi-sub Ocean Nomad will drill well 9/02b-D, comprising an appraisal well and an exploration sidetrack.
The appraisal program will assess the field’s southern extent, and also is expected to provide data for the planned Phase I field development, east of the Kraken fault.
The sidetrack west of the appraisal well will investigate three potential reservoirs, targeting prospective resources of 114 MMbbl. If successful, these reserves could form part of a Phase II development.
Nautical adds that it has been working to further de-risk Kraken. Depositional modeling has improved its understanding of the reservoir’s areal distribution. And interpretation of a controlled source electro-magnetic survey has confirmed an anomaly typically associated with hydrocarbon accumulations, over the planned drilling location.
However, Nautical's joint venture partner, Canamens Energy North Sea, will not participate in the drilling program. This will leave Nautical having to fund 70% of the costs, the rest borne by the other partner, Celtic Oil.
Nautical intends to submit a field development plan (FDP) for Kraken during the 1Q 2011.
The company is a junior partner to Statoil in Mariner, a much larger heavy oil field in the region in block 9/11a.
Here the partners aim to submit an FDP to the UK government by the end of next year, with preliminary project sanction expected during 1 Q, 2011.
Recently revised interpretation and the integration of subsurface seismic and geological data have helped Statoil update the geological models for both the Heimdal and Maureen reservoirs.
This new analysis is being used to optimize the subsurface development plan, particularly for well design and well placement. It has also led to an increase in Mariner’s contingent recoverable resources from 369 MMbbl to 430 MMbbl.
Nautical adds that development engineering screening studies indicate total development costs (capex and opex) of around $25/bbl.
Elsewhere on the UK shelf, Nautical plans to drill next year on the Merrow prospect in block 113/29c and on Tudor Rose in block 14/30a. It is confident of securing new blocks from its applications under the UK’s 26th Licensing Round.
08/11/2010
