Dana Petroleum has started drilling works at the Pharos exploration well in the UK Southern North Sea. The news was announced this morning by Parkmead, which owns a 20% stake in the prospect.
The Pharos gas prospect has the potential to contain up to 500 billion cubic feet of gas-in-place (86 million barrels on an oil equivalent basis) and is located in Blocks 47/4d, 47/5d and 47/10c. The Pharos structure is located only 14km south west of Parkmead’s Platypus gas field, which was discovered in 2010 and successfully appraised with a horizontal well in 2012. Pharos is mapped as a much larger structure than Platypus and has the potential to contain almost three times more gas-in-place than the targeted amount at the successful Platypus discovery.
Pharos is a structural trap with the same Rotliegendes reservoir as the Platypus field which flow tested in 2012 at a rate of 27 million cubic feet of gas per day (4,500 barrels of oil per day on an equivalent basis). The Pharos prospect is a large closure with a vertical relief of up to 600 ft, and an areal extent of up to 6,000 acres. A discovery at Pharos would be highly valuable because it could be jointly developed with Parkmead’s Platypus gas field, located only 14km from the Pharos drill location. This would significantly increase the value of the already economic development at Platypus. Data attained from the Pharos well will also provide a greater understanding of the remaining prospectivity in this area, which includes the Blackadder gas prospect in the adjacent block to the south of Pharos.
The drilling operation is being undertaken by Dana Petroleum as operator using the Noble Lynda Bossler drilling rig. The joint venture partners are Parkmead, Dyas Exploration UK Limited and MPX North Sea Limited.
Tom Cross, Executive Chairman of Parkmead, commented:
“We are delighted to report that the well targeting the large Pharos gas prospect has started drilling. If successful, Pharos could add significant further value to the Platypus gas field and also provide greater understanding of the exciting Blackadder prospect nearby.
“Parkmead’s oil and gas portfolio is growing rapidly, with the recent completion of the Lochard Energy Group plc acquisition, giving Parkmead a balanced asset base of production, development, appraisal and exploration opportunities.”
[mappress]
October 1, 2013