Offshore staff
SUBIACO, Australia – ADX Energy has agreed to farm out a 50% interest in the D363 CR-AX permit in 90-100 m (295-328 ft) water depth, 60 km (37 mi) offshore western Sicily to SDP Services.
The concession contains the planned Nilde oil field redevelopment and the successfully tested Norma and Naila oil discoveries.
SDP will fund the work program commitments of ADX subsidiary Audax Energy up to a maximum of Eur20.82 million ($24 million) to secure the 50% stake.
Assuming the Italian licensing authorities ratify the license, SDP would receive 5% net profits royalty interest attributable to any future production from the Nilde field, while ADX would remain operator of the license.
In the 1980s, Nilde produced 20.5 MMbbl of 39° API oil from subsea infrastructure tied back to the Firenze FPSO. The productive Nilde formation reservoir is a fractured limestone carbonate of Mid-Miocene age.
It is a dual-porosity system with both fracture and matrix systems contributing to production, with a strong aquifer having previously supported highly productive wells, according to ADX.
However, encroaching water cut in the main Nilde-2 in the late 1980s could not be remedied as the subsea completions and production facilities did not provide for artificial lift or water handling.
The field was prematurely abandoned in 1989 due to these technical issues and the collapse in the oil price to $14/bbl.
Over the last 24 months, ADX has conducted an integrated subsurface review with raw data interpretation and deterministic geological scenario modeling.
Across the permit it has also identified contingent resources of up to 65.6 MMbbl and prospective resources of up to 201 MMbbl.
The proposed Nilde redevelopment will target production of 34.1 MMbbl of 2C resources from three wells at an estimated initial rate of 22,000 b/d.
The production wells will have dry wellheads and produced fluids will be processed through a self-installing mono-column platform. Estimated field life is around seven years, with a breakeven oil price of less than $12/bbl in the 2C case.
11/01/2018
