Borr rig kicks off Kistos’ Dutch North Sea drilling campaign

Borr Drilling’s Prospector-1 jack-up drilling rig has arrived at Kistos’ Q10-A field in the Dutch North Sea and started the company’s 2021 drilling campaign.

Kistos has recently acquired Tulip Oil Netherlands B.V. through a deal completed in May, taking over Tulip’s Q10-A gas field and its wind and solar-powered platform.

The company said on Tuesday that Borr Drilling’s Prospector-1 jack-up arrived on location and that the work programme was scheduled to last around four months.

The drilling programme marks the start of converting approximately 100 mmboe (gross) of 2C resources into 2P reserves.

Planned activities include the appraisal of the Q11-B gas discovery, conducting a flow test of the Vlieland light oil discovery and other activity designed to enhance production from the existing Q10-A well stock.

Kistos expects the Q10-A gas field to exit 2021 with gross production of more than 2.0 mmsm3/d. The company previously stated that success with the forthcoming Vlieland oil test and/or the Q11-B appraisal well could result in a further significant uplift in production by the mid-2020s, the company explained.

The Q11-B gas discovery is estimated to contain 2C resources of over 170 Bcf or 30.8 MMboe (gross). If this campaign meets expectations, it is anticipated to lead to Q11-B coming onstream before the end of 2023.

A plan is also in place to drill a sidetrack of the Q10-A-04 well, not currently on stream, to a new location in the Slochteren formation, which is the field’s primary producing reservoir and re-perforate the Q10-A-06 well to increase output.

Andrew Austin, Kistos’ interim CEO, said: “One of the key attractions of the Kistos portfolio is the significant near-term upside potential.

“We expect that this drilling campaign will start the process of realising that potential and will result in strong organic growth in our reserves and in our production“.