Maersk Oil is to drop its heavy oil Bagpuss and Blofeld License, P.1943, in the UK North Sea, according to partner North Sea Energy.
The move follows UK independent Premier Oil resigning as operator on the Bagpuss joint venture, effective at the end of this year.
Premier said it would sell its 40.1% interest to newly formed firm, Aberdeen-based Reach Halibut, subject to approval by the joint venture partners.
Premier announced drilling results from the Bagpuss well in August. The well, 13/25-1, was drilled using the Ocean Valiant semisubmersible drilling rig on the Halibut Horst in the Outer Moray Firth, in the North Sea.
The well encountered 41ft of hydrocarbon-bearing sands within a 68ft hydrocarbon column, which Premier Oil said was in line with its pre-drill estimates.
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 Premier farmed into the Bagpuss acreage, its 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.
At the time of its discovery, 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 at that time were Maersk Oil UK (25%), NSE (15%), Premier Oil (40.1%), EnCounter Oil (13.27%) and Groliffe (6.63%).
Reach Halibut was incorporated in July this year. Directors at the firm are veteran North Sea explorers Miles Newman and Canadian Laurence Kinch. Kinch is also a director on Aurora Petroleum.