Significant hydrocarbon potential has been outlined in the south Porcupine offshore Ireland, according to initial results of a collaboration project between operator Providence Resources and oilfield services firm Schlumberger.
Two firms have been working to assess a number of prospects in the basin, starting with the Druid and Drombeg prospects, in Frontier Exploration License (FEL) 2/14 is about 220km off the west coast of Ireland.
According to Providence, the results of the work have "fundamentally changed the game," de-risking significant hydrocarbon potential, confirming an earlier interpretation of two large stacked deepwater fan systems and seismic responses consistent with the presence of up to 85m thick "highly porous light oil bearing sandstone reservoir systems."
Looking towards drilling on the license, John O’Sullivan, Technical Director of Providence, said the current competitive drilling market would make for a "highly attractive cost dynamic."
A provisional location for a vertical well to test the two stacked prospects is in 2250m water depth. Providence says the latest internal cost estimate for a dual objective Druid/Drombeg well is about US$85 million, compared with the nearby $200 million Dunquin North exploration well, which was drilled to a similar depth by Providence in 2013.
“Whilst our respective in-house technical teams initially generated and matured these prospects, our collaboration with Schlumberger has fundamentally ‘changed the game’ by leveraging proprietary technology and work-flows to de-risk significant hydrocarbon potential," says O'Sullivan.
“The Druid prospect looks particularly attractive, given its size, resource density, shallow depth, modelled high porosities, normal pressures and beautifully imaged Class II AVO anomaly. The underlying Drombeg prospect adds further significant resource potential that is also AVO supported and which could be accessed with the deepening of a Druid exploration well.”
“These targets are clearly highly attractive for drilling given the magnitude of the resource base together with the significant de-risking that has resulted from the collaborative Project. In addition, the current rig and offshore services market adds the important further dimension of a highly attractive cost dynamic.”
Some 30 technical professionals from Providence/Sosina and Schlumberger have worked on the project, which was designed to confirm prospective resource potential, over the Druid, Drombeg, Newgrange and Dunquin South exploration prospects in the southern Porcupine Basin, as well as helping to mitigate risk at both the basin and prospect levels.
Further work is ongoing relating to the Newgrange exploration prospect, which in Frontier Exploration License (FEL) 6/14.
The firms had 2D seismic data acquired in 2008 and new 3D seismic acquired by Polarcus in summer 2014 and processed by ION Geophysical in 2014/15.
Druid's cumulative in-place un-risked prospective resources have been put at 3180 bo (PMean).
Dromberg's in-place un-risked prospective resource has been put at 1915 bo.