Danish North Sea Miocene oil discovery indicated

Oct. 17, 2011
PA Resources AB, Stockholm, has sampled light, sweet 34-35° gravity oil in shallow Miocene sandstone at the Lille John prospect in License 12/06 in the North Sea off Denmark and plans to sidetrack the well to a chalk target.

PA Resources AB, Stockholm, has sampled light, sweet 34-35° gravity oil in shallow Miocene sandstone at the Lille John prospect in License 12/06 in the North Sea off Denmark and plans to sidetrack the well to a chalk target.

The Miocene stratigraphic level has not generally been explored in Denmark, PA Resources noted.

The well encountered 5 m of hydrocarbon pay in a 25-m Miocene sandstone-shale interval 900 m below mean sea level. Gas-oil ratio is 350 scf/bbl. No water was detected.

The Lille John well is 17 km south of Gorm field and 8 km from PA Resources’ gas-condensate discovery at the Broder Tuck prospect in July 2011.

The Lille John well was drilled for the primary chalk target and as a result was not optimally located at Miocene sandstone level, being just outside of the main part of the seismic anomaly and close to the mapped limit of the Miocene sandstones, PA Resources said.

The well encountered modest reservoir development as expected at this location marginal to the seismic anomaly but has confirmed the anomaly to represent oil-bearing sandstone, with an apparent column height in excess of 300 m.

The Lille John well was unable to penetrate the main chalk target or the underlying Middle Jurassic secondary target due to an unexpected pore pressure regime and extensive fracturing at chalk level. As a result, the well is now being sidetracked to a revised location with the aim to try again to penetrate the chalk target and establish its fluid content and reservoir development.

PA Resources UK Ltd. has 64% interest in 12/06, Nordsofonden (Danish North Sea Fund) has 20%, and Danoil Exploration AS and Spyker Energy APS each holds 8%.