Hansa, ONE open Rotliegend gas play in the Dutch North Sea

Hansa Hydrocarbons has discovered gas in the Ruby structure in the Dutch North Sea, on the median line with the German sector.

The N05-1 exploration well, drilled by the Paragon jack-up Prospector-1, on the GEms licenses, encountering significant volumes of gas, the company said, in the targeted basal Rotliegend sandstones.

Hansa and partners Oranje-Nassau Energie (ONE) and state-owned Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) decided to further the structure and reservoir distribution with a downdip geological side track, which also encountered gas.

The reservoir interval was cored throughout, with a drill-stem test of the vertical well flowing up to 53 MMcf/d, constrained by surface equipment. Results exceeded pre-drill expectations.

Ruby extends across the N04, N05, N08, and Geldsackplate licences in the Dutch and German sectors in a water depth of 28 metres (92 feet) with ONE operating the well on behalf of the N05 and Geldsackplate licence groups.

John Martin, Hansa’s CEO, said: “Not only have we proved up a substantial volume but it also confirms the extent of the hitherto poorly understood basal Rotliegend sands in the offshore basin.

“We now look forward to progressing the commercialisation of Ruby and the appraisal of the adjacent prospects in order to realize the full potential of this exciting new play.”

Hansa entered the German offshore sector by drilling the L01-2 well in 2010, results of which allowed it to develop a geological model using reprocessed 3D seismic.

The N05-1 well has validated this model and appears to have de-risked prospectivity in the GEms, Geldsackplate, and 4Quads (G18, H16, M03, N01) licences to the north, Mr Martin said.