Eni orders 3D seismic program over Irish offshore license

Italian oil major Eni and its partners have agreed to underwrite and license 1,800 square kilometers of new multi-client 3D seismic data over the Frontier Exploration License (FEL) 3/04 offshore Ireland.

FEL 3/04 is situated in a water depth of 1,500 meters and is located some 200 kilometers off the southwest coast of Ireland. The license is operated by Eni on behalf of its partners Repsol, Providence Resources, and Sosina Exploration.

According to a Monday statement by Providence Resources, a partner in the license, the 1,800 square-kilometer seismic program over the license will be conducted by CGG’s Geo Caspian.

Providence added that the mobilization for the seismic program would begin shortly. The main objective of this new 3D seismic survey is to understand the hydrocarbon potential of the undrilled Lower Cretaceous Dunquin South carbonate exploration prospect.

Also, the partners hope that that this new data might shed further light on the 2013 ExxonMobil-operated 44/23-1 exploration well, that was drilled on the adjacent Dunquin North carbonate prospect and which encountered a large residual oil column in a massive highly porous over-pressured carbonate reservoir system.

A further objective of the new survey is to assess the nature and hydrocarbon potential of the 700 square-kilometer Dunquin Ridge which underlies both Dunquin carbonate build-ups and which was not reached by the previous well.

John O’Sullivan, technical director of Providence, said: “The revised Eni analysis of the 2013 44/23-1 Dunquin North well has highlighted material resource potential associated with the Dunquin South exploration prospect.

“This is evidenced by the significant commitment now being made by the JV Partners to underwrite and license a block-wide 3D seismic survey over both the Dunquin North and Dunquin South carbonate build-ups. We hope that the results of this survey will improve our understanding of the acreage and lead to further drilling in the future.”

To remind, former operator of FEL 3/04 ExxonMobil decided to exit the license in August 2016. Following the exit, the remaining partners in the license increased their equity interests in the license through a pro-rata distribution of ExxonMobil’s equity interest while Eni assumed the role of the operator.