MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' Humpback well finds non-commercial quantities of oil and gas

Following the Humpback well, the Eirik Raude rig returns to the North Falkland basin where it will drill an appraisal of the Elaine-Isobel fan complex

Humpback is the first well to encounter oil in the potentially larger systems in deeper waters off the southeast of the Falkland Islands; however the oil and gas across a number of reservoir targets in the well drilled to a depth of 5.136 meters, were in non-commercial quantities.

 The well hit the exploration targets “close to prognosis”, the Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd company said, but, the reservoir quality disappointed.

The Humpback well encountered a number of sandstone reservoir targets, including the primary objective APX-200, and it also cut an additional 25 meters of sandstones deeper in the well (albeit with moderate porosity and low hydrocarbon saturation). In total the well encountered 65 meters of sandstone reservoir.

But it was not possible to obtain fluid samples from the well due to a number of operational reasons, FOGL said.

“While the Humpback well has provided mixed results, it should be noted that this is the first well in the South Falklands Basin to encounter oil and also demonstrate a working hydrocarbon system in the Fitzroy sub-basin,” said Tim Bushell, FOGL chief executive.

“The reservoir quality in the various targets penetrated by the well was however poorer than pre-drill expectations, and further work will now be required to fully integrate the well results and assess the implications for the overall oil and gas potential of our southern licences.”

Following the Humpback well, the Eirik Raude rig returns to the North Falkland basin where it will drill an appraisal of the Elaine-Isobel fan complex, which has been estimated to hold 400mln barrels of oil resources.

The company told investors that the Humpback results would now be evaluated in detail, and it will assess what they mean for the rest of the southern licences.

It highlighted that Humpback is just one of a number of plays within the basin. And it garnered further technical positives from the fact that, having encountered oil, it will now be able to recalibrate its interpretation of 3D seismic data which covers a large area.

FOGL shares slumped nearly 40% on Thursday following the disappointing result in the Humpback exploration well.

Operator Houston-based Noble Energy in an additional comment said that Humpback well offshore the Falkland Islands reached total depth and is being plugged and abandoned. Humpback was drilled in the Fitzroy sub-basin of the Southern Area License and encountered non-commercial quantities of crude oil and natural gas.

Full well assessment and the integration of drilling results into the Company’s geologic models is ongoing to determine remaining exploration potential in the Southern Area License. The geologic play including Humpback was only one of a number of prospect play types in the Southern Area License.

The rig which drilled the Humpback well will be released to another operator before returning to Noble Energy to spud the Rhea prospect in late 2015 or early 2016. Located in the Northern Area License offshore the Falkland Islands and approximately 265 miles from Humpback, Rhea is in a proven petroleum basin near existing oil discoveries. Rhea is a Cretaceous-aged prospect with multiple reservoir targets and total estimated gross mean un-risked resources in excess of 250 million barrels of oil.