West Phoenix rig moves off North Sea well location following disappointing results

The Seadrill-owned semi-submersible drilling rig West Phoenix, which drilled the 20/05b-14 Verbier appraisal well, has now moved off location in the UK North Sea following disappointing well results.  

As reported earlier in April, the Equinor-operated Verbier appraisal well did not encounter Upper Jurassic sands as anticipated, leading to a downgrade of resource estimate.

The co-venturers in the P2170 License are Equinor with a 70% interest, Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG) with an 18%, and CIECO V&C (UK) Limited with the remaining 12% stake.

JOG said on Monday that Equinor, as the operator of the license, had confirmed to the co-venturers that it would complete the already planned full re-evaluation of the license area, combining the recent appraisal well results and data collected during operations with the fully processed 3D broadband seismic data, acquired in 2018 and which is expected to be delivered in June 2019, in order to better understand the reservoir distribution of the primary target.

JOG also added that the evaluation would also include an assessment of additional prospectivity in the deeper targets and the other previously identified exploration opportunities, including Cortina, before making a recommendation to the co-venturers on a potential future appraisal/exploration program.

Andrew Benitz, CEO of Jersey Oil & Gas, commented: “The appraisal well results were disappointing for us all, however we believe there is still plenty to play for in terms of both the Verbier discovery and in the remainder of our acreage and we look forward to receiving the new fully processed 3D seismic to help us de-risk the licence further.

“I am delighted, therefore, that the co-venturers are aligned in implementing the requisite immediate work streams with the objective of assessing potential future appraisal and exploration drilling opportunities on the license area.”


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