Offshore staff
LONDON — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority has accepted the commitment of the partners in license P2390 in the central UK North Sea to proceed to Phase C of the license, starting Oct. 1.
According to operator Soliton Resources, in a Sept. 9 announcement, the permit carries the obligation to drill an exploration well to a depth of 2,135 m; this will test the Isolde prospect.
Soliton was awarded the license blocks 23/26e and 30/1d under the UKCS 30th Licensing Round. The blocks contain a prominent salt diapir with reservoir targets in the established Cretaceous/Palaeocene chalk and Palaeocene sandstone intervals, and a small, shallow oil discovery made in 1988 by well 30/1-7.
After securing the license, work focused on detailed mapping on new dual-azimuth 3D data of a diapir flank prospect, Isolde, and other geological studies required under the three-year Phase 1 terms.
According to Soliton, Isolde is a typical central North Sea salt diapir flank trap. More than a dozen fields of this type have been found in the sector, it added, with average recoverable reserves of about 100 MMboe.
The most recent development of discoveries of this type involved tiebacks to Shell’s Shearwater complex.
09.29.2022
