Page 12 - Euroil Week 45 2019

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Conoco hits oil, gas off Norway
NORWAY
The find is estimated to be up to 10mn barrels of oil equivalent in size.
CONOCOPHILLIPS has struck oil and gas 15 km northwest of the Balder field in the Nor- wegian North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) reported on November 12.
The 25/7-7 wildcat was the first well to be drilled at production licence 782S, and was completed to a depth of 4,705 metres by the Leiv Eiriksson semisubmersible rig. Water depth at the site is 127 metres.
At its primary target, it encountered two sep- arate gas and condensate and oil-bearing inter- vals, with sandy layers in the Draupne formation totaling 25 metres, with poor to very good res- ervoir property. No hydrocarbon/water con- tact was encountered, although water-bearing siltstone layers were identified in the secondary exploration target in the Heather Formation.
Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at between 1 and 10mn cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalent. The well will now
be plugged and abandoned, the Leiv Eiriksson will move on to drill another wildcat at Conoco’s production licence 917. Were Conoco to decide to develop the discovery, it could potentially be hooked up to infrastructure at Balder, which is operated by Eni subsidiary Var Energi.
Conoco’s main focus in the North Sea is the second phase of the Tor gas field in the Greater Ekofisk area, which it filed development plans in the summer. Tor ceased production in 2015, but the NPD estimates that a further 60-70mn barrels of oil equivalent could still be recovered from its reservoirs.
Norway’s Aker BP also made a smaller find last week near the Gyda field in the southern North Sea. According to the NPD, the 2/1-17S well, sunk to a depth of 4,322 metres, discovered an estimated 0.5-1.5mn cubic metres of recov- erable oil equipment, but the discovery was deemed non-commercial. ™
i3 Energy breaks ground on final Liberator well
UK
The Liberty field alone should flow 20,000 bpd of oil.
UK oil and gas junior i3 Energy has spudded a new pilot well at its Liberator oilfield in the outer Moray Firth in the North Sea – the final probe in a three-well drilling campaign.
The Liberator A2 pilot will help i3 determine where to position its LP-2 production well at the field, i3 said on November 8. It is to be drilled by the Borgland Dolphin semi-submersible that was also used to complete the two previous wells.
i3’s first well was also drilled at Liberator, aimed at appraising its development potential. Its second targeted the nearby Serenity pros- pect, and encountered a “transformational” oil discovery living up to the firm’s pre-drill estimate of 197mn barrels of oil in place (OIP). Liberator itselfholdsaround200mnbarrelsofOIP.
“We are excited to be drilling again at Lib- erator on the back of our success at Serenity,” i3 CEO Majid Shafiq said. “The A2 location has been selected as a low-risk target in close prox- imity to Liberator’s two well penetrations, giving us a high-level of confidence when tied into the recently reprocessed seismic that was used to selecttheSerenitydiscoverywelllocation.”
i3 has also agreed a rig contract extension and a payment deferral with Dolphin Drilling, the owner of the Borgland Dolphin rig. It has secured a right of first refusal on the rig until January 31, 2020, meaning it can continue its drilling work. The company has also agreed on a
strategic operational pact for the use of Dolphin Drilling’s rigs until August 2023, potentially cov- ering further drilling at Liberator and Serenity.
i3 has also agreed to issue GBP5mn ($6.4mn) in equity to the funders of its May junior loan notes at a price of GBP0.35 per share via a pri- vate placement, in order to provide flexibility to extend its drilling campaign. The deadline by which i3 must enter a reserve-based lending facility or find alternative development financing has been extended from December 6, 2019, to April 30, 2020.
Liberator’s first phase of development will involve four wells targeting 63mn barrels of oil. Commercial production should start next year, withtwowellsinitiallyflowing20,000barrelsper day (bpd) of oil. ™
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Week 45 14•November•2019