Ruby well unlocks new Dutch, German play

Hansa Hydrocarbon's N05-1 exploration well offshore the Netherlands on the GEms licences has made a significant has discovery.

Map of Geldsackplate. From Hansa.

The Ruby discovery extends across the N04, N05, N08 and Geldsackplate licences in the Dutch and German North Sea sectors respectively in 28m water depth, says partner Hansa Hydrocarbons. 

The discovery was made in the target basal Rotliegend sandstones. A downdip geological sidetrack also found gas. 

Oranje-Nassau Energie (ONE) was operator of the well, with partners Hansa Hydrocarbons and Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN, the Dutch State entity). 

Hansa is operator of both the Dutch and German GEms licenses, Blocks N04, N05, N8 and N07c in the Netherlands, with interests post-EBN participation of 25% to 30%, and the Geldsackplate license in Germany with an interest of 50%.

The N05-1 well was drilled using Paragon Offshore's Offshore Prospector-1 rig as a joint well between the N05 and Geldsackplate license groups. 

The reservoir interval was cored throughout and 24m of net sand was encountered with high permeability. This was confirmed by the DST in the vertical well which was flow tested at a maximum sustained flow rate of 53 MMscf/d, which was the limit of surface equipment. The results of the well exceeded pre-drill expectations.

John Martin, Hansa Hydrocarbon’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 commercialization of Ruby and the appraisal of the adjacent prospects in order to realize the full potential of this exciting new play.

"Hansa’s decision to pursue this play dates back to its entry into the German offshore with the drilling of the L01-2 well in 2010, which enabled the company to develop a geological model with the use of modern reprocessed 3D seismic. The N05-1 well has now validated this model and leads to a significant de-risking of the neighboring prospectivity in the GEms, Geldsackplate and 4Quads (G18, H16, M03, N01) licenses to the north.”

The N05-1 well was drilled using Paragon Offshore's Prospector-1 jackup rig as a joint well between the N05 and Geldsackplate license groups.