Norse Energy Corp., Oslo, reported encouraging initial results from a 3D seismic survey on its acreage in central New York state.
The company obtained access to the first processed data in late June. Crews are shooting 38,000 acres of the company's 180,000 acre holdings in the state.
The geological feature tested by the company's most successful fractured Silurian Herkimer sandstone well is easily identifiable and clearly differentiated from a suboptimal well that appears to have narrowly missed its intended drilling target, Norse Energy said. The data further support Norse Energy's 500 bcf full-field Herkimer development model (OGJ Online, Feb. 15, 2010). The Herkimer drilling and workover program is taking place on an acreage block in Broome, Chenango, and Madison counties.
Earlier this year the company revised its Herkimer yearend 2010 production goal downward slightly to 18-24 MMcfd after one of its wells unexpectedly began producing water. Remedial work is under way.
Norse Energy also has proposed two vertical pilot wells with small fracs to evaluate Ordovician Utica shale potential on its New York acreage. It would follow those in 2011 with two horizontal wells with multistage fracs and microseismic monitoring. Its New York lands are estimated to contain a Utica shale resource of 2.5 tcf.
Norse Energy said the seismic data will also play an important role in optimizing the company's Marcellus shale assets.
The firm, whose New York lands are estimated to contain a Marcellus shale resource of 1.2 tcf, is waiting for the state to issue environmental regulations regarding horizontal drilling and fracturing in the Marcellus. It has acreage in Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Steuben counties, NY, along the state line with Pennsylvania where the Marcellus is being exploited.
In addition," Norse Energy said, the early seismic data highlight prospectivity within multiple other formations on our acreage," such as the Ordovician Trenton-Black River and the Silurian Oneida formations.
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