Falklands Springhill prospect abandoned

BHP Billiton Petroleum and Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd. encountered no reservoired hydrocarbons and will plug Toroa F61/5-1, first exploratory well in the East Falkland basin in the South Atlantic.

July 13, 2010

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 13 -- BHP Billiton Petroleum and Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd. encountered no reservoired hydrocarbons and will plug Toroa F61/5-1, first exploratory well in the East Falkland basin in the South Atlantic.

Projected to 2,700 m on the PL15 license, the well reached a total depth of 2,476 m in about 600 m of water and was logged. It was to have evaluated the Cretaceous Springhill sandstone play that produces hydrocarbons far west in the Magallanes basin of Argentina and Chile.

FOGL drilled the well 100 miles south of Stanley at the site of a seismic amplitude anomaly and a positive controlled source electromagnetic response. It had also encountered oil shows in the site survey core over the prospect. The company will fully evaluate the well data.

The company has also identified the Lutra, Endeavour, Thulla, Inflexible, and other prospects in deeper water east of the islands.