MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands oil drilling campaign takes off with spudding on the Zebedee prospect

Drilling, coring and logging operations on the Zebedee well are expected to take 30 days. Cost of each well drilled by Eirik Raude rig is estimated in 50m dollars

Premier Oil spudded its first 2015 Falklands drilling campaign well, 14/15-5, using the Eirik Raude semisubmersible drilling rig on the Zebedee prospect on 6 March. The well, on license PL004b, will test a total of seven stacked fan bodies with varying geological chances of success (GCoS) of 9-52%.

 If successful, the well, the first of four for Premier Oil in the Falklands basin, would “significantly increase the hydrocarbon resources of the Sea Lion field complex,” according to Falklands Oil & Gas, a partner in the well.

Sea Lion is 220km north of the Falkland Islands in 450m of water depth. It was discovered by Rockhopper Exploration, now a partner with Premier Oil, in Spring 2014 and successfully well tested the following September. Premier Oil, which had been looking to develop Sea Lion with an FPSO, is currently progressing a lower cost phased development plan, involving a tension leg platform, due to the fall in oil prices last year.

Sea Lion Phase I is targeting 293 MMboe - Premier has said its current four-well Falklands drilling campaign is targeting 1 billion bbl unrisked.

The Zebedee probe is the first in a six-well drilling campaign by Premier Oil and fellow Falklands explorer Noble Energy. Drilling, coring and logging operations on the Zebedee well are expected to take about 30 days.

Rockhopper set out the drilling order following Zebedee:

Sea Lion Phase I is targeting 293 MMboe - Premier has said its current four-well Falklands drilling campaign is targeting 1 billion bbl unrisked.

The Zebedee probe is the first in a six-well drilling campaign by Premier Oil and fellow Falklands explorer Noble Energy. Drilling, coring and logging operations on the Zebedee well are expected to take about 30 days.

Rockhopper set out the drilling order following Zebedee:

• Zebedee, North Falkland Basin, license PL004b
• Isobel Deep, North Falkland Basin, license PL004a
• Humpback, South Falkland Basin, southern license area
• Jayne East, North Falkland Basin, license PL004c
• Chatham, North Falkland Basin, license PL032
• Second Noble operated well - South or East Falkland Basin, to be decided
• Rockhopper holds interests in production licenses (PL) 032 and 033 and 004a, 004b, and 004c.

The North Falkland Basin wells are anticipated to cost approximately 50 million dollars each, said Rockhopper.

Samuel Moody, Rockhopper's CEO, commented: “We are very pleased to be drilling again in the North Falkland Basin and to be targeting prospects we first mapped in 2012. This exciting exploration campaign exposes shareholders to a range of prospects and risks which in the case of success will add significantly to the value of the already discovered and appraised Sea Lion field.”

Tim Bushell, CEO of partner Falklands Oil & Gas, commented: “I am very pleased to announce the commencement of the 2015 drilling program. The Zebedee prospect, if successful, will significantly increase the hydrocarbon resources of the Sea Lion field complex within our license area.”