Cairn updates exploration progress in UK North Sea

Cairn Energy PLC, operator of UKCS license P2312, will plug well 03/17a-3 (Chimera) in the North Sea. The well is dry. The well was drilled 40 km north of Kraken field 140 km east of Lerwick and 400 km north of Aberdeen in 135 ft of water.

OGJ editors

Oct. 18, 2019

Edinburgh exploration company Cairn Energy PLC, operator of UK Continental Shelf license P2312, will plug well 03/17a-3 (Chimera) in the North Sea. The well is dry.

The well, drilled 40 km north of Kraken field 140 km east of Lerwick and 400 km north of Aberdeen in 135 ft of water, reached a vertical depth of 1,830 m subsea. The well, drilled by Stena Drilling’s Stena Don semisubmersible drilling rig, was terminated in the Lista formation in the Paleocene.

The objective of the well was to prove hydrocarbons in Paleocene Heimdal sandstones within the Lista formation.

Cairn subsidiary Nautical Petroleum Ltd. was awarded 100% operated interest in the license in the UK 29th Offshore Licensing Round in 2017. Cairn farmed out a 40% non-operated interest to Suncor Energy UK Ltd. in 2018 and a further 15% non-operated interest to DNO North Sea (UK) Ltd. this year.