Eni and its partner have agreed to underwrite and license 1800sq km of new multi-client 3D seismic data over FEL 3/04, in the southern Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland, according to partner Providence Resources.
FEL 3/04 is situated in about 1500m water depth and is some 200km off the southwest coast of Ireland.
Mobilization of the CGG Oceanic Caspian, which will conduct this data acquisition program, is expected to start imminently.
The main objective of this new 3D seismic survey is to understand the hydrocarbon potential of the undrilled Lower Cretaceous Dunquin South carbonate exploration prospect. In addition, it is hoped that these new data may shed further light on the 2013 ExxonMobil-operated 44/23-1 exploration well, that was drilled on the adjacent (about 20km) Dunquin North carbonate prospect and which encountered a large residual oil column in a massive highly porous over-pressured carbonate reservoir system, says Providence.
A further objective for the new survey is to assess the nature and hydrocarbon potential of the approximate 700sq km Dunquin Ridge, which underlies both Dunquin carbonate build-ups and which was not penetrated by the previous well.
“The revised Eni analysis of the 2013 44/23-1 Dunquin North well has highlighted material resource potential associated with the Dunquin South exploration prospect. This is evidenced by the significant commitment now being made by the JV Partners to underwrite and license a block-wide 3D seismic survey over both the Dunquin North and Dunquin South carbonate build-ups. We hope that the results of this survey will improve our understanding of the acreage and lead to further drilling in the future,” says John O’Sullivan, technical director of Providence.
The license is operated by Eni Ireland (36.913%) on behalf of its partners Repsol Exploracion Irlanda (33.557%), Providence Resources (26.846%) and Sosina Exploration (2.684%).
Map of FEL 3/04, from Providence.
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