Corallian set to drill Wick well in December with Colter to follow

UK-based Corallian Energy has revealed its plans to drill the Wick prospect located off the UK in December 2018 with the Colter well to follow.

Corallian, the operator of the P2235 and P1918 licenses which contain the Wick and Colter prospects, respectively, said on Tuesday that drilling of the Wick well would begin during December 2018.

The company said that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) has completed its review of the Environmental Statements, the representations received from consultees and the additional information provided by Corallian for the proposed Wick and Colter wells. OPRED has advised the Oil and Gas Authority of its in-principle agreement to the issue of the relevant consent for both projects.

“There are several regulatory approvals and notifications still required before the consenting process is completed for the wells. When all the necessary approvals have been obtained, the wells will be drilled as a back-to-back program using the Ensco 72 jack-up rig. Following completion of the Wick well, the rig will be mobilized from the Moray Firth to the English Channel to drill the Colter well,” the company said.

According to Corallian, Fraser Well Management Limited will be the well operator for the drilling of the wells. Orbis Energy Limited is the environmental consultant to the projects.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday, United Oil & Gas, Corallian’s partner on the Colter well, said that the well would be drilled as soon as operations were completed on the Wick well, subject to further approvals.

Colter will appraise a historic discovery that lies immediately to the south of Europe’s largest onshore oil field at Wytch Farm.

The discovery was made in 1986 by well 98/11-3, which encountered a 10.5-meter oil column in the Sherwood Sandstone reservoir. The same play proved to be productive at Wytch Farm where over 450mmbbls have been produced to date.

United added that the new well will be drilled updip of 98/11-3 targeting significant potential that has been identified following reprocessing of 3D seismic data. The gross unrisked mid-case oil contingent resources in the section proven up by the 98/11-3 well have been estimated at 4 mmbbls, with gross unrisked mean-case prospective resources estimated at 15 mmbbls in the rest of the structure.

United Oil & Gas CEO, Brian Larkin, said: “As with our first well, the successful Podere Maiar on the Podere Gallina license onshore Italy, Colter has an excellent address, lying on the same play as Wytch Farm, and will appraise a historic discovery, which we believe could hold in aggregate up to 19 mmbbls of gross contingent and prospective resources.”

United’s CEO also said that the company was looking forward to new activities on the Walton-Morant license offshore Jamaica, which includes the high-grade Colibri target, the North Sea Crown oil discovery, and a potential well at Waddock Cross in the Wessex Basin in H1 2019.