By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 12 -- Deepwater exploratory drilling appears to have identified a prospective new basin off northwestern Ireland.
The 12/2-1 Dooish well in 1,478 m of water 125 km northwest of Donegal "penetrated a substantial hydrocarbon column in a tilted fault block and demonstrated for the first time the presence of a working hydrocarbon system in the Rockall trough," said IHS Energy, Tetbury, UK.
Enterprise Energy Ireland drilled Dooish, the second deepest water depth well off Ireland, on License 2/94 last year on behalf of itself, AGIP Ireland BV, and OMV (Ireland) GmbH. It suspended operations as weather deteriorated.
Enterprise, acquired by Royal Dutch/Shell Group in May 2002, said only that initial results from the well were very encouraging and "indicate the presence of hydrocarbons. Significantly more work is required to understand the implications of the results to date," the company said.
