Jeremy Beckman - London
Asterix confirms gas play in Norwegian Sea
StatoilHydro has proven gas in a new deepwater play in the Norwegian Sea. The well on the Asterix structure, the first in production license 327B, found gas in Upper Cretaceous rocks with good reservoir properties. Recoverable volumes are estimated at around 16 bcm (565 bcf), representing one of Norway’s larger finds of recent years.
Asterix, drilled in 1,360 m (4,462 ft) water depth by the semisubTransocean Leader, is 80 km (49.7 mi) west of a cluster of gas accumulations, Haklang, Luva, and Snefrid, two of which were discovered last summer. Although there is no production infrastructure in the area, StatoilHydro is considering a joint development with Asterix.
Asterix could be developed jointly with three other fields in the Norwegian Sea.
A few blocks to the south, the company has brought onstream the Alve gas-condensate field as a single-well subsea satellite to theNorne FPSO, 16 km (9.9 mi) to the northeast. Alve was discovered two years before Asterix, in 1990, but a development plan was only submitted in March 2007. The field has 6.78 bcm (293 bcf) of gas and 8.3 MMbbl of condensate, both proven in the Garn and Not formations, and will deliver gas at up to 4 MMcf/d.
Also in the Norwegian Sea, the company has contracted Foster Wheeler Engineering for FEED work for its Asgard B production facilities. The scope includes de-bottlenecking of an existing amine process module on the platform with a view to obtaining maximum CO2 absorption at Asgard B.
Well abandonment set to escalate
The market for well abandonment services on the UK shelf could be worth £15 billion ($21.23 billion), according to a new report from InterAct Activity Management and Oil & Gas UK. An estimated 3,725 platform wells and 910 subsea wells will need to be decommissioned, most of them over the next 15 years.
Phil Chandler of InterAct claimed that existing rig-less abandonment technologies could be applied to two-thirds of these wells. The remainder, however, would require advances in techniques such as well control and string tubular recovery.
Shell’s Jules Schoenmakers, who chaired the well abandonment work group, said: “Operators are looking for breakthrough technologies and new approaches in this emerging business. The size of the market appears large enough to support many businesses and teams of specialized well abandonment professionals for several decades.”
Oil & Gas UK has also updated its guidelines on actions to be taken when suspending operations for a limited period and during final abandonment of a well. These include clarification of the requirement to squeeze perforations and advise on well construction to facilitate abandonment.
Exploration resumes off western Ireland
Serica Energy is set to drill Ireland’s first frontier region well in several years. Well management contractor AGR Petroleum Services has secured the Diamond Offshore semiOcean Guardian to drill the well on the Bandon prospect in license PEL 01/06 off western Ireland, which has estimated potential gas resources of 230 bcf – 1.7 tcf. The six-week program was due to get under way in early May.
Off southeast Ireland, the government has increased the areal extent of Providence Resources SE 1/07 exploration license in the St George’s Channel basin. This area includes a mapped extension of Marathon’s undeveloped Dragon gas discovery in Welsh waters. Providence will work on options for the Orpheus exploration prospect in deeper hydrocarbon-bearing intervals, which could form part of a future appraisal/development program for Dragon.
Premier bids for Oilexco
Premier Oil has made a $505 million cash offer for the North Sea assets of stricken Canadian independent Oilexco. The latter entered administration early this year, leaving various UK sector projects in limbo.
The deal is subject to an agreement with Oilexco North Sea’s creditors, and would be part-funded by a $252 million rights issue. If this fails, Premier instead would buy the business and assets for $415 million.
Premier’s CEO Simon Lockett described the development as “the most exciting…in Premier’s recent history.” The company has a wide spread of exploration and production interests in the North Sea, but mainly as a junior partner. Oilexco brings operatorship of the producing Balmoral area fields in the UK central sector, and further shares in the Scott satellite discoveries, where Premier is already a stakeholder.
The future of Oilexco’s Shelley development had looked uncertain, but Premier has agreed to keep the field’s FPSO Sevan Voyageur in service. Hook-up of subsea facilities should go ahead shortly. However, Sterling Resources has reassumed operatorship of Oilexco’s minor Sheryl oil find in block 21/23a, which it plans to channel through spare capacity in the Pict pipeline system to Hess’Triton FPSO.
Another dynamic North Sea independent, Venture Production, may be subject to a bid from Centrica Resources, which recently acquired 22% of its share capital. Venture has a strong track record in monetizing gas discoveries in the southern sector, a region where Centrica also has been stepping up activity. In March, Centrica gained government approval to tieback the Seven Seas field, acquired as part of a package from Newfield in 2007, to BP’s West Sole Alpha platform.
