E&P Notes (July 2022)
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: August 2022

Transocean Harsh-Environment Rig Scoops Contract Extension

Equinor extended Transocean’s contract for use of the harsh-environment semisubmersible Transocean Spitsbergen. The additional nine wells plus two, one-well options extension is valued at $181 million and is expected to begin in October 2023. The work will keep the rig busy off Norway until April 2025.

In the fall of next year, the rig is scheduled to start drilling a trio of production wells for the Haltenbanken Vest Unit, which is part of the Kristin South area in the Norwegian Sea.

Transocean Spitsbergen has been working consistently for Equinor since 2019.

Equinor Wildcat Comes Up Empty

Equinor will plug and abandon its Cambozola exploration well in License PL1049 offshore Norway after failing to encounter commercial hydrocarbons. Exploration well 34/9-1S was targeting Lower Cretaceous turbidite sand lobes in the northern North Sea and had the potential to be a play opener, according to well partner Longboat Energy.

The exploration will continue with the Oswig and Copernicus wells, both expected to spud this summer.

The Cambozola well was drilled to a total vertical depth of 4393 m using Odjfell Drilling semisubmersible Deepsea Stavanger. Background gas readings were recorded throughout the overlying section, but the well failed to encounter effective reservoir. Equinor is analyzing the data collected to understand the observed bright seismic amplitude anomaly and any remaining Lower Cretaceous prospectivity in the area.

Longboat had previously referred to Cambozola as a potential play opener and one of the largest gas prospects to be drilled in Norway in 2022. Gross unrisked mean prospective resources for the entire Cambozola prospect have been estimated at 159 million BOE.

Western Gas’ Sasanof-1 Exploration Well Disappoints

Western Gas failed to encounter hydrocarbons with its Sasanof-1 exploration well offshore Western Australia. The well was drilled to a total depth of 2390 m by semisubmersible Valaris MS-1, but no gas reservoirs were intersected. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The Sasanof prospect was estimated to hold 7.2 Tcf gas and 176 million bbl of condensate. The prospect was seen as potential supply for the NW Shelf LNG project.

Vaalco Adds Reserves at Etame off Gabon

Vaalco Energy encountered multiple hydrocarbon-bearing sands with its South Tchibala 1HB-ST well drilled from the Avouma platform in the Etame field offshore Gabon. The well struck 18 m of hydrocarbons in the Dentale D1 sand, which is analogous to the Deep Dentale producing field in North Tchibala with similar porosity and permeability. Another 15 m of hydrocarbons was intersected in the Dentale D9. The well will be completed in the D1 sand and was scheduled to be online in June, while the D9 will be cased for future completion. The well also penetrated a thin section of Gamba sand which will not be economically feasible to complete.

Current Etame production is fed through the recently extended FPSO Petroleo Nautipa. Success with the South Tchibala 1HB-ST potentially adds new future drilling locations in the Deep Dentale trend across the Etame block.

Eni, TotalEnergies Begin Drilling Off Cyprus

Partners Eni and TotalEnergies have begun drilling a natural gas wildcat dubbed Cronos-1 in Block 6 offshore Cyprus. The well, originally planned for 2020, was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Vantage Drilling drillship Tungsten Explorer is on location and is conducting the drilling operations.

In 2018, the partnership struck gas at the Calypso well in another part of Block 6. That well proved that the carbonate play present in Eni’s Zoar field off Egypt extended to the Cypress exclusive economic zone. Zoar was discovered in 2015 and is the biggest gas discovery to date in the Mediterranean Sea.

Calypso-1 was drilled to a total depth of 3827 m and encountered an extended gas column in Miocene- and Cretaceous-aged sands.

Eni operates Block 6 with a 50% participation interest. TotalEnergies holds the remaining 50% stake.

ADNOC Makes Three Onshore Discoveries

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has unveiled three new oil discoveries including one at Bu Hasa, Abu Dhabi’s biggest onshore field, with a crude oil production capacity of 650,000 B/D.

The discovery in Bu Hasa includes 500 million bbl of oil from an exploration well in the field.

The second oil find was in Abu Dhabi’s Onshore Block 3, operated by Occidental, and is estimated to be around 100 million bbl of oil in place.

The onshore Al Dhafra Petroleum Concession yielded the third discovery—around 50 million bbl of light sweet Murban-quality crude.

Ecopetrol, Oxy Prep Development Quartet

Ecopetrol has an agreement in place to develop four deepwater blocks with a subsidiary of Occidental. The four blocks are located in deep waters some 150 km off Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast.

Ecopetrol will take a 40% stake in the blocks while Occidental subsidiary Anadarko Colombia will hold the remaining 60% stake and will serve as the blocks’ operator.

The deal remains subject to approval from Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Equinor, ExxonMobil Plan Bacalhau Expansion off Brazil

Equinor and partner ExxonMobil are considering adding a second drilling rig and a second floating production platform for the next phase of the Bacalhau development in the Santos basin, along with a 100-mile-long gas pipeline, according to Reuters.

The companies want to boost future production from Bacalhau, Equinor’s largest project outside of Norway. A new appraisal well is planned in the north of the field next year “to better understand the reserves base for the Phase 2 development,” according to Equinor, and the partners are assessing awarding a contract for a second drilling rig.

The partners sanctioned the $8-billion project a year ago. The field is situated across two licenses, BM-S-8 and Norte de Carcará. The resource is a high-quality carbonate reservoir containing light oil.

The development will comprise 19 subsea wells tied back to an FPSO located at the field. The planned FPSO be one of the largest in Brazil with a production capacity of 220,000 B/D and 2 million bbl in storage capacity. The stabilized oil will be offloaded to shuttle tankers, and the gas from Phase 1 will be reinjected in the reservoir. First oil is expected in 2024.

Equinor Transfers Krafla Operatorship to Aker BP

Equinor and Aker BP have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for transfer of the Krafla operatorship from Equinor to Aker BP, making Aker BP the operator of all discoveries in the NOAKA area: Krafla, Fulla, and North of Alvheim.

Equinor and Aker BP are operators of one field development project each in the area and have agreed that one operator will be the best solution for further development.

The MoU states that the owners of the relevant licenses will apply to the ministry for change of operator. A transfer of operatorship will be carried out when the investment decision has been approved by the license partners and the plan for development and operation has been submitted to the authorities.

Equinor will still be a major license partner in the area and will retain its existing share of 50% in Krafla and 40% in the Fulla license. The companies will jointly submit the PDOs for NOA Fulla and Krafla as planned by the end of the year.

Energean Strikes Gas at Athena off Israel

UK-based Energean has discovered gas with its Athena probe in Block 12, 20 km from Tanin A in 1769 m of water. The probe was drilled in 51 days and encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of 156 m in the primary target. Preliminary analysis indicates that the Athena discovery contains recoverable gas volumes of 8 Bcm on a standalone basis.

Energean will conduct analysis to refine the full resource potential (including volumes contained within thinner sands between the main reservoir units) and to confirm the liquids content of the discovery. The Athena well has been suspended as a future production well. Commercial hydrocarbons were not discovered in the deeper secondary target.

Athena can be commercialized in the near term via tieback to the Energean Power FPSO, enhancing the profitability of the Karish-Tanin development. Alternatively, it could form part of a new development called the Olympus Area which consists of Block 12 and additional prospects on the Tanin lease. The discoveries and prospects in this area lie along the same geological trend; Athena was drilled on the same direct hydrocarbon indicator as Tanin.

Energean is confident that the Athena discovery has de-risked the A, B, and C sands in the remaining prospects of the Olympus Area, estimated to be 50 Bcm of mean unrisked prospective resources. This estimate excludes the liquids component as well as any gas upside in the thinner sands between the main reservoir units.

Drillship Stena IceMAX has moved to the Karish Main-04 appraisal well and will complete the Karish North development well.