TotalEnergies encountered hydrocarbons upon entering the reservoir during recent appraisal drilling at the Isabella discovery in the UK North Sea, about 270 km southeast of Aberdeen.
This was shared by Ithaca Energy, TotalEnergies' partner in the Isabella discovery (P1820) in Block 30/12d-12, located in the Central North Sea of the UK Continental Shelf.
According to Ithaca, which cited information from TotalEnergies, hydrocarbons were encountered in Upper Jurassic and Triassic sandstone reservoirs, with 148 feet (or 45 meters) of net thickness.
Logging while drilling and wireline logs were acquired to establish reservoir quality. TotalEnergies, which made a hydrocarbon discovery at the Isabella exploration well in March 2020, plans to complete the gathering of data, plug and abandon the well, and evaluate the drilling results to establish the commerciality of the reservoir.
The well was drilled to a total depth of 15,600 feet (or 4,754 meters) in water depths of 262 feet (or 80 meters). The gross cost of drilling is approximately £66.6 million.
Isabella lies about 25 miles south of Total Energies-operated Elgin Franklin Field, where Ithaca Energy holds a 6.09% working interest, and 105 miles east of Aberdeen.
The Isabella partners are Ithaca Energy - 10%, Neptune E&P UK - 50%, Energean Exploration Limited - 10%, and Total Energies E&P North Sea UK Limited - 30%. TotalEnergies is the operator of the block.
Elsewhere in the North Sea, Ithaca Energy and Dana Petroleum have made the decision to carry out exploration drilling in Block 22/14c of the Central North Sea – the K2 prospect.
Exploration drilling at the K2 prospect is expected to start between June and July 2023 and last about 41 days in order to determine the presence of hydrocarbons.
The water depth at the drilling site is 294 feet (approximately 90 meters), and the final planned depth of the drilling is 9,000 feet (approximately 2,743 meters). Drilling is targeting the Forties Member sandstones.
The total gross cost of drilling is estimated at £17 million in a dry hole case. In the case of success, further gross costs estimated to be in the region of £17 million will be incurred, providing a total success cost of £34 million (net to Ithaca Energy: £17 million), Ithaca Energy said.
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