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William: You Never Know… |
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Archives -
2007 Archive
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Written by J. Cresswell
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
This year’s exploration well in the Faroes has operator BP well prepared for having to penetrate anything between 500 and 700 meters of basalt cover, making William in all probability as expensive as last year’s Brugdan — and as exciting.
The hunt for oil and gas resources off the Faroe Islands is expected to take its next major step later this year when an exploration well is spudded on the William prospect.
Hjarnar Djurhuus of BP Amoco Exploration expects that drilling operations will take at least three months or about the same as the Statoil-operated Brugdan took to complete — compared with about two months for the earliest of the five offshore Faroe exploration wells drilled to date.
Despite the lack of a commercial find to date, Mr Djurhuus is nevertheless excited at the fact that this well will still be drilled, even though it will also be very expensive — several hundred million Danish krones. This is due to the presence of basalt over the target and because rig charter rates have risen sharply in the past three years.
While it would be good if the experience gained from the 2006 Brugdan probe could help speed up the William schedule, Mr Djurhuus considers this unlikely.
“Right now it’s difficult to find drilling rigs… semi-submersibles or ships,” says Mr Djurhuus. “We have a contract with Transocean for the Transocean Rather, which is currently engaged at Chevron’s Rosebank/Lochnagar discoveries West of Shetland. It has a three-well program and one well has been completed so far [March 2007].
“BP is hoping to start on William late this summer but drilling can’t get going before the rig has finished up on the Rosebank job. The weather hasn’t helped — it’s been causing delays at Rosebank and further hold-ups are possible. From our point of view, summer is preferable to autumn for drilling off the Faroes because of the weather factor.”
While BP has experience of drilling on the Faroe shelf and therefore data available, both are very limited and only the Brugdan well may be broadly analogous to William because of the anticipated thick basalt overlay.
‘Great and positive influence:’ BP’s first well was drilled on acreage secured in the first Faroese licensing round, namely Area 004. While the 6004/12-1 well drilled in 2001 encountered hydrocarbons, so indicting an active system, it was not deemed commercially viable.
In fact the results of that well, coupled with those of the other wells drilled during that first season, were broadly so disappointing that the decision was taken at BP that, if possible, the two remaining round one well commitments would be traded against a single commitment well in Area 007, working in cooperation with Anadarko.
“We struck a deal a couple of years ago with authorities [Jarðfeingi] to skip the two remaining commitments for one instead in the basalt covered area,” says Mr Djurhuus.
“Fortunately, new knowledge about the basalt challenge has been gained thanks to the Statoil-operated Brugdan well. Nonetheless, it is difficult to interpret the data and there are no reference points to assist with measuring the thickness of the basalt shield.
“The problem with basalt is that it is almost impossible to see through. You have to go about seismic surveying in a different way than normal in order to get even a moderate idea of what may lie beneath.”
“You never know just how thick the basalt layer is. You could estimate 500 meters, but it could possibly be 600m or even 700m.
“We will drill down to about 4,700m [water depth is just under 800m]. Of course it’s high-risk, but we wouldn’t be committing unless we believed in what we’re doing.
“Of course we’re hopeful of making a find, but the chances of success are estimated at only 10 percent. And then will it be oil, or gas, or both? It’s not straightforward and the real world is full of surprises.”
Basically, a company can work on the basis of geological similarities in some areas but when it comes down to it, one target might hold oil, but the one next to it might have all the right conditions, but all that’s down there is sand and water.
As if the act of hiring a rig and drilling wasn’t already expensive enough, Mr Djurhuus points out that the geographic location of the Faroes militates against easy logistics, as do regulations compelling landfall of equipment and services before use offshore.
As for the socio-economic significance of the oil and gas quest for Faroe, Mr Djurhuus notes less enthusiasm now than when the hunt started a few years ago. “There’s less commitment and fewer expectations than before,” he says. “Of course its disappointing for us too. You don’t commit to three wells without expecting something. But you never know; experience shows you never know before the drilling has been done.”
Even though there is disappointment and reduced expectations, Mr Djurhuus emphasizes that the hunt for hydrocarbons has brought a new dimension to the islands. A decade ago, who would have thought that so many young Faroese would be studying at university in Aberdeen, for example.
“It has absolutely been a great and positive influence,” he adds.
Link to pdf presentation...
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