Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Jan. 19 -- Elixir Petroleum Ltd., co-owner of UK North Sea Block 15/13b, said its farmin partner Nexen Petroleum will spud the Guinea well in mid-February.
Guinea is a four way dip-closed Palaeocene prospect that lies on trend with producing oil fields to the southeast, including Balmoral and Dumbarton. An Elixir spokesman told OGJ the well spud, scheduled originally for November, has been on hold because of bad weather in the North Sea, which has affected several projects.
Nexen will use the Borgsten Dolphin semisubmersible rig to explore the prospect and will assume block operatorship from Granby Oil & Gas PLC once it spuds the well. The other farm-in partner is Gas Plus Italiana SPA. According to the agreement, Nexen and Granby will not pay any drilling costs for the well, which is expected to take 21 days to drill on a dry hole basis.
Elixir said: "Nexen holds interests in a cluster of blocks adjacent to Block 15/13b, including Block 15/18b to the south, which hosts the Yeoman oil discovery. Should Guinea prove successful, its location close to existing production infrastructure should enhance an early field development."
On an unrisked basis, the Guinea structure is estimated to contain prospective resources of 65-120 million bbl of oil, Elixir said.
Status of other wells
The Jaguar well, operated by Oslo-based Det Norske Oljeselskap (DNO) ASA on Block 211/22b in the UK Northern North Sea, intersected residual oil in Middle Jurassic (Brent) sands following the results of Elixir's technical studies. Elixir holds a 40% stake in Jaguar. "Ongoing technical work is aimed at fully evaluating this Brent potential as well as the remaining Upper Jurassic plays within Block 211/22b," Elixir said.
Elixir also expects to sign a farmin deal for its Leopard prospect on Block 211/18b in the UK Northern North Sea, but the company spokesman declined identifying that prospective partner. "Two key lines linking Leopard to its Norwegian analog, the Borg oil field, and also to the Jaguar well were acquired and processed, with the primary objective of derisking the Leopard prospect," Elixir said. The investigation results...were presented to potential partners at DTI's [UK Department for Trade and Industry's] Prospect Fair held in London in mid-December," Elixir added.
Elixir also is promoting its Block 211/8b in the UK Northern North Sea to potential partners realizing that the Panther prospect could have hydrocarbons at both Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous horizons. Elixir has an 80% in that block.
It is waiting to hear results from DTI on the 24th licensing round, which have been delayed for the past 3 months because of environmental challenges connected with some of the license locations.
Elixir returned three North Sea licenses, awarded under the UK's 22nd licensing round, to DTI because it was unable to find partners to carry out the drilling.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
