Premier Oil's Bagpuss heavy oil exploration well on the Halibut Horst in the Outer Moray Firth, in the North Sea, has made a discovery, potentially opening a new play in the area.
The 13/25-1 well, drilling using the Ocean Valiant semisubmersible drilling rig, reached a total depth of 1532ft total vertical depth subsea in granite basement.
The well encountered 41ft of hydrocarbon-bearing sands within a 68ft hydrocarbon column. Premier Oil said this was in line with its pre-drill estimates. The sands had 25-33% porosity and indications were that the oil was heavy. The well is now being plugged and abandoned.
Analysts FirstEnergy said the volumetrics were in line with pre-drill expectations. "As anticipated this is heavy oil, however the bottom oil temperature was at the lower end of expectations and as a result, oil will be less mobile than initially hoped for," said FirstEnergy. "Further tests will be required to assess oil mobility which is the key challenge to get a handle on commerciality."
Back in 2013, when the company farmed into the Bagpuss acreage, Premier’s analysis of the 1981 discovery well result, which was not cored or tested, suggested that the Bagpuss and the nearby Blofeld heavy oil prospects together could contain up to 2 billion bbl in place. Wood Mackenzie has said a discovery here could open up a new play.
Robin Allan, Director of Exploration and North Sea at Premier Oil, said: “The Bagpuss well has proven a significant volume of oil in place. We will now work with our partners to carry out a full analysis of the hydrocarbons and reservoir encountered to ascertain whether commerciality can be established.”
The joint venture partners in the Bagpuss prospect are Maersk Oil UK (25%), NSE (15%), Premier Oil (40.1%), EnCounter Oil (13.27%) and Groliffe (6.63%).
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