Stena Drilling's Stena IceMAX drillship is soon expected to set sail to the Bahamas, where it will spud the Perseverance #1 exploration well for the Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC).
BPC said Tuesday that the drilling rig had completed all necessary vessel and equipment inspections, and is scheduled to leave the dock in The Canary Islands before the end of November 2020, heading to the location in preparation to drill the well.
The well, described by BPC as potentially basin-opening, is expected to be spudded before the end of 2020.
"Stena Drilling, the provider of the IceMAX drill ship, has issued formal notification to BPC of the intended operational start date, being 15 December 2020. BPC anticipates that it will take 4-5 days from this start date for the rig to be provisioned, loaded, and then transitioned to the drilling location for spud of the well," Bahamas Petroleum said.
The well site is located in the far southern territorial waters of The Bahamas. The well will be located in water approximately 520 meters deep and will be drilled to a target depth of 4,822 meters, but with a capability to be able to reach 5,600 meters, affording the ability to evaluate multiple reservoir horizons throughout the entire stratigraphic column below the Tertiary cover.
The ultimate decision on well depth will depend on real-time drilling results and geological information.
The drilling is expected to take between 45 and 60 days. The well is targeting recoverable prospective resources of 0.7 billion barrels of oil, with an upside of 1.44 billion barrels.
Simon Potter, CEO of BPC said Tuesday::"Many shareholders have been extremely patient and have stayed the distance, as has the majority of the management team, and we are now in the position to deliver the Perseverance #1 exploration well in compliance with our long-held exploration licenses in The Bahamas. Perseverance #1 is a potentially basin-opening well, with the kind of scale and associated value uplift exposure rarely offered outside of oil majors."
Per BPC, the best estimate prospective recoverable oil resource at the Perseverance #1 location is 767 million barrels, with an upside of 1.444 billion barrels assuming the same recovery factor.
"It is anticipated that any discovery at this location has the potential to extend into a larger portion of the overall B structure extending to the south-east. In aggregate, the entire B structure extends for approximately 75 kilometers along strike and accommodates over 400 km2 of mapped closure with the entire structure having a combined 'best estimate' prospective resource of in excess of 2.0 billion barrels, and gross column height of up to 1,000 meters," BPC said.
The company further explained that the well has been designed specifically as an exploration well, with the sole objective of establishing the presence of hydrocarbons through a range of tests that will be conducted as the well is drilled.
"Perseverance #1 has not been designed to ever operate as a production well, such that at the conclusion of the drilling program the well will be permanently sealed and then abandoned," BPC said.