Prompted by successful exploration and appraisal wells drilled in the Agar-Plantain area in the UK North Sea, Azinor Catalyst Ltd. recently drilled an associated sidetrack well (OGJ Online, Aug. 15, 2018).
The 9/14a-17B well, drilled to 1,845 m TVD, is being plugged after encountering excellent quality oil and water bearing sands, the company said. The wellbore delineated the eastern extent of the hydrocarbon discovery and encouraged the partners to drill the contingent Agar sidetrack to further appraise the discovery.
The Agar sidetrack encountered a 20-m (gross true vertical thickness) interval of very high-quality oil-bearing sands, with no identified oil-water contact. Reservoir oil samples have been recovered. Further analysis is required to establish the oil quality and assist in defining recoverable resources. Preliminary analysis puts Agar-Plantain recoverable resources at 15-50 million boe, in line with predrill estimates. This estimate will be refined as more data are available, the company said.
The Agar discovery was made in 2014 with the 9/14a-15A exploration well, which encountered 33 ft column (oil-down-to) in high-quality Eocene Frigg formation sands.
Azinor Catalyst operates the wells with 25%. Partners are Cairn Energy subsidiary Nautical Petroleum 50% and Faroe Petroleum PLC 25%.
“Next year we plan to drill three high quality prospects—Goose, Boaz, and Hinson—all of which have been defined and derisked using similar forensic geoscientific techniques,” said Henry Morris, technical director of Azinor Catalyst.
