24 August 2015, News Wires – Wintershall has lined up a further wildcat to be drilled off Norway with a satellite prospect at the Skarfjell discovery now in its sights.
The German explorer has filed an application with the authorities to drill the 35/12-6 probe at Skarfjell Tail using semi-submersible Borgland Dolphin, with an earliest spud date of mid-December.
The well, to be drilled in Wintershall-operated production licence 378 in the northern North Sea, aims to prove hydrocarbons in the the Oxfordian and Fensfjord sandstone formations, as well as firm up the resource potential of Skarfjell.
It will be sunk to a total depth of 3200 metres and has an estimated duration of at least 56 days in the event of a dry hole or up to 148 days if a discovery is made that requires a well testing and a possible sidetrack.
Wintershall holds a 45% operating stake in the licence that hosts Skarfjell, with Cairn Energy unit Capricorn on 20%, and Explora Petroleum and Talisman Energy on 17.5% apiece.
The operator, which is maintaining the pace of exploration activity despite low oil prices that have seen other players pull back, recently came up dry with another probe in the licence at the Crossbill prospect.
Wintershall is currently using the same Fred Olsen Energy-owned rig to drill a wildcat at the Syrah prospect in the northern North Sea that kicked off last week.
In addition, the explorer has a rather more controversial probe lined up at the Kvalross gas prospect in the Barents Sea later this year – marking its first major foray in the frontier play – that risks the wrath of environmentalists due to the perceived risk of an oil spill close to the Arctic ice boundary.
– Upstream
