Lancaster could be UK's largest undeveloped discovery

Mar 27, 2017

Fractured basement explorer Hurricane Energy is closer to proving its Halifax discovery is linked to its Lancaster field, forming a single field, which would be the UK's largest undeveloped discovery on the UK Continental Shelf.

Hurricane has already said its 300 MMbbl estimate for the Lancaster field, west of Shetland, on the UK Continental Shelf, was conservative. Final investment decision on an early production system on the Lancaster field is due at the end of 1H 2017.

"These are exciting times for Hurricane," says the firm's CEO Dr Robert Trice. “We believe that the Greater Lancaster Area is a single hydrocarbon accumulation, making it the largest undeveloped discovery on the UK Continental Shelf. The discovery of a 1km hydrocarbon column at Halifax validates the efforts the company undertook to acquire the license and drill, test and log the Halifax well through the winter months."

The 205/23-3A Halifax well was completed, using the Transocean Spitsbergen semisubmersible. It has been suspended with a view to allow future operations to either deepen or do further testing on the well following analysis on the latest results.

Hurricane, which names prospects after bomber planes, says the well successfully identified an extensive oil column, estimated at at least 1156m, in pervasively fractured reservoir, significantly below local structural closure and with consistent porosity with Lancaster.

The well was drilled and cased to 1179m true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS) and then to 1801m TVDSS and a drill stem test performed. Due to budget, time and technical constraints, only traces of formation oil were recovered to surface. The well reached 2004m TVDSS, with no confirmed OWC encountered.

The end of the Halifax Well marks the completion of the 265 days during which Hurricane has had the Transocean Spitsbergen on hire. During that time, Hurricane has successfully drilled one development (Lancaster sidetrack), one appraisal (Lancaster pilot), one intervention on the 2014 horizontal well (in preparation for well completions in Q2 2018) and two exploration well (Lincoln and Halifax).