Norway: Centrica Spuds Cooper Well

Faroe Petroleum has announced that Centrica has begun drilling on the Cooper prospect in PL477 in the Norwegian Sea.

The exploration well will target the Cooper prospect located in PL477 in block 6506/11 on the Halten Terrace between the Smørbukk oil field, immediately to the east, and the Morvin oil field, to the west. Cooper consists of an untested north to south trending fault block. The main reservoir objectives are the prolific Middle Jurassic Garn and Ile formations, which are the main producing reservoirs in the neighbouring Smørbukk and Morvin fields.

The drilling operation will be operated by Centrica Resources (Norge) AS (40%) using the West Alpha drilling rig. The other joint venture partner is Suncor Energy Norge AS (30%).

West Alpha is an Ultra Yatzy drilling facility, built in 1986. The facility has been modified several times and is registered in Panama with Det norske Veritas as the classification society. The rig is operated by Seadrill, which has an operations office in Stavanger. The facility received its Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) in December 2001.

Production licence 477 was awarded on 29 February 2008 in APA 2007. This is the first well to be drilled in the licence.

Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, commented:

“We are pleased to announce the spudding of this Halten Terrace exploration well which is in one of our core areas. The Cooper prospect offers significant resource potential and is in close proximity to a number of important discoveries made by the Company including Fogelberg (2009) and Maria (2010). We also look forward to the commencement of the Faroe-operated Clapton exploration well in the Norwegian North Sea (Faroe 40% and operator), whilst drilling operations continue on the West of Shetland North Uist exploration well (Faroe 6.3%).”

[mappress]
Offshore Energy Today Staff, May 9, 2012; Image: Seadrill