Independent Oil and Gas provides update on Harvey appraisal and Redwell discovery in the Southern North Sea
Independent Oil and Gas, the development and production company focused on becoming a substantial UK gas producer, has provided an update on management’s analysis of the results of the Harvey appraisal well 48/24b-6 in the UK Southern North Sea.
Highlights:
- Post-well mapping indicates northern part of pre-well Harvey structure is likely to hold gas volumes of approximately 40 Bcfe mid-case recoverable
- IOG’s nearby Redwell discovery appears to be larger, with mid-case recoverable volumes of approximately 100 Bcfe
- Both estimates require further analysis and modelling work to inform the potential for a Redwell-Harvey area development off the back of the Core Project
- 49 foot gas column at the 48/24b-6 well location appears to be a sub-commercial discovery
- Brief results analysis presentation is available on IOG website
- IOG has agreed to extend the CalEnergy Resources Limited (“CER”) Harvey option exercise period to the 27th February 2020
As announced on the 11th September, the Harvey well 48/24b-6 reached a total depth of 7,537 feet Measured Depth (MD) in the Permian Leman Sandstone reservoir, meeting the Initial Term work commitment for Licence P2085.
The top of the Leman Sandstone was encountered at 7,086 feet MD. Two 90 foot cores were acquired in the Leman Sandstone along with a full suite of wireline logs, including pressure test and fluid samples, as well as Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP).
Analysis of the wireline data demonstrated the presence of a 49 foot vertical gas column at the top of the reservoir, in contrast to pre-drill estimates of a 211 foot gas column.
The Company experienced a technical issue in integrating the VSP data into the existing seismic dataset which hindered the initial analysis of the comprehensive dataset acquired from the well. However, this has now been resolved, enabling seismic remapping and an initial technical assessment of gas volumes to be completed.
This remapping indicates that the Harvey structure as described on the pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) map prior to the well is likely to be compartmentalised into more than one structure.
On this basis, the results of the 48/24b-6 well are mixed. The 49 foot gas column encountered at the well location appears to be a small independent pocket of gas of limited areal extent, resulting in what the Company believes to be sub-commercial volumes.
However, the updated mapping based on the well data also indicates the presence of a larger structure at Harvey up-dip to the northeast of the previous 48/23-2 well, i.e. the northern part of the pre-well PSDM Harvey structure. The size of this structure implies mid-case recoverable volumes of approximately 40 Bcfe, analogous to Blythe.
Additional short-term technical work can provide further definition on the updated mapping and the Company will proceed with this as the next step.
Furthermore, the well results have been integrated into the seismic data covering the area of the Redwell discovery (previously Wherry) in IOG’s P2441 licence, to the immediate east of the P2085 Harvey licence.
This indicates that Redwell extends further to the north-west than previously estimated, incorporating both the Redwell discovery and Woodforde prospect into a single structure with management estimated mid-case recoverable resource volumes in the region of 100 Bcfe.
The wells drilled at Redwell by previous operators prior to 2006 demonstrated a low-relief discovery of good reservoir quality. Further reservoir modelling work will now be undertaken to confirm estimates of gas in place (GIIP), potential resources and deliverability at Redwell.
This will then inform whether there is scope for a future development in the Redwell-Harvey area (P2085 and P2441 licences), potentially benefitting from direct tie-in to the by-then operating Thames Pipeline export route or tie-back to Core Project infrastructure such as the Southwark or Blythe platforms.
To illustrate further the updated understanding of the area summarised above, IOG has released a brief Initial Harvey Well Analysis presentation on its website, available at the following link: www.iog.co.uk/investors/results-reports-and-presentations/
Alongside the farmout transaction with its partner CER which completed in October 2019, IOG agreed an option for CER to acquire 50 per cent of the P2085 and P2441 licences within three months of completion of the Harvey appraisal well.
Exercise of the option entails a £20 million payment to IOG and a £0.95/MCF royalty on all of CER’s life-of-field net gas production from Harvey.
Given the time required to assess and integrate the Harvey well results, IOG has agreed that CER will now have until the 27th February 2020 to finalise their own technical analysis and decide whether to exercise the option.
Andrew Hockey, CEO of IOG, commented: “The Harvey well has provided us with an invaluable data set and enhanced geological knowledge of the area which may unlock a new development opportunity for IOG, and has reinforced the benefit of a highly focused regional presence.
“To achieve a robust initial interpretation of the Harvey well results, it was critical to ensure the integrity of the well data analysis and we have now done that. This gives us an updated subsurface view which can be further clarified by additional technical work.
“Although the gas accumulation at the 48/24b-6 well location is sub-commercial, our updated post-well mapping indicates that the northern section of the pre-well Harvey structure is likely to contain commercial volumes of gas and that Redwell has fairly substantial gas in place.
“We now intend to undertake the further modelling necessary to evaluate the potential for a commercial development in these licences which would leverage their proximity to our fully-funded Core Project infrastructure. Meanwhile, progress on development of Core Project Phase 1 continues on track following FID in late October.”
Source: Energy-pedia