Page 11 - Euroil Week 35 2019

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Maersk wins trio of North Sea orders
UK
The company has secured drilling and decommissioning work.
DANISH conglomerate Maersk has secured new orders for drilling and decommissioning work in the North Sea.
On August 30, Maersk Drilling reported that Germany’s Wintershall DEA had executed an option for its Maersk Resolve jack-up to sink another well at the Sillimanite gas eld. e work is scheduled to start in mid-2020 and run for 100 days. It may also include well tests.
Discovered in 2015, Sillimanite straddles the border between the Dutch and UK sectors of the North Sea. Wintershall sanctioned its develop- ment earlier this year, with rst gas anticipated in 2020.
Maersk Drilling has also been hired by Oman’s Petrogas to complete an appraisal well at the Birgitta gas and condensate eld in the UK North Sea. A harsh environment jack-up will be used to drill the probe under a contract worth $7.6mn, the Danish contractor said on Septem- ber 2. Operations will start in March 2020 and continue for 70 days. e contract includes an additional 20-day option.
Finally, Maersk Decom and Maersk Supply Service have been enlisted for decommissioning work at the ames gas eld, also in UK waters.
Under a contract with London-based Perenco, the pair will manage the removal, recycling and waste management of subsea infrastructure, Maersk Decom reported, also on September 2. e contract’s scope includes the cut and recov- ery of wellheads and wellhead protection struc- tures, as well as end-to-end recycling and waste disposal.
Maersk Decom was established in April to target opportunities in the UK North Sea’s decommissioning market, which has expanded as weaker market conditions have prompted operators to shut down older projects sooner.
“ is is an important milestone for Maersk Decom, being the rst project that moves our new company from studies and project devel- opment into execution,” the firm’s CEO, Lars Banke, commented on the award.
e ames eld stopping producing gas in 2015, almost 30 years a er its launch. e pipe- line built to pump its gas to the shore is set to con- tinue to operate, however, having been bought by London-listed Independent Oil & Gas (IOG) last year. IOG intends to use the pipe to transport gas from several new discoveries it is preparing for development. ™
Reabold reports oil at major UK gas field
UK
West Newton is already believed to be the UK’s biggest onshore eld.
UK-BASED explorer Reabold Resources now believes its West Newton gas eld in northern England holds sizeable volumes of oil as well.
West Newton in East Yorkshire is potentially the UK’s biggest onshore gas deposit, with best- case resources of over 5.4bn cubic metres. Initial tests at the recently drilled A-2 well now indicate the presence of a sizeable oil column at the site, Reabold said on August 29.
According to the London-listed company, initial petrophysical analysis suggests an overall hydrocarbon layer of 65 metres with a gross oil column of 45 metres underlying a gross gas col- umn of 20 metres, within the Kirkham Abbey formation.
“The realisation that we appear to have a 45-metre oil column is a signi cant and exciting development in the evaluation of this corner- stone asset,” Reabold co-CEO Stephen Williams said in a statement.
The next well at West Newton will tar- get the deeper Cadeby formation, potentially
identifying signi cant additional resources. “ ere are also other follow-on exploration targets within this extensive licence area,” Wil-
liams said.
A er the A-2 well’s core and petrophysical,
seismic and test data are integrated and evalu- ated, Reabold said it would commission a revised competent persons’ report to re-assess West Newton’s reserves and its economic value.
Reabold has a 37% share in West Newton’s operator Rathlin Energy, a subsidiary of Cal- gary-based Connaught Oil & Gas. Rathlin in turn has a 66.7% stake in the project, with part- ners Union Jack Oil and Humber Oil & Gas each having 16.7% stakes.
West Newton’s investors have said the eld’s development will be “transformational” for their businesses. It is located near existing oil and gas pipelines as well as two major UK gas terminals in Dimlington and Easington. e Lindsey oil re nery and the Tetney oil terminal are also sit- uated to the eld’s south. ™
Week 35 05•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P11