No oil for Shell in North Sea well

Oil major Shell has failed to find hydrocarbons in its Jaws exploration well located in the UK North Sea.

The Jaws exploration well is located in licence P2380, which is operated by Shell (50 per cent WI) with Capricorn Energy, previously known as Cairn Energy, as its partner (50 per cent WI). The licence is located approximately 188 km east of the Aberdeenshire coastline in Scotland and 44 km west of the UK/Norway median line, in an area where water depth is approximately 92 m.

The well spudded in November 2021, according to a Tuesday update from Capricorn.

As detailed by Capricorn, the Shell-operated well was unsuccessful. It reached total depth in late January 2022, after encountering 31m of fair to good quality Jurassic reservoir sandstones, but these were water-bearing. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.

According to information from the UK’s authorities, the high pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) well was drilled using the Valaris 122 jack-up rig. The project was supported by three tugboats, a supply vessel, an emergency support vessel and helicopter trips.

The rig owner’s latest fleet status report shows that the jack-up is under the contract with Shell until September 2022 following the exercise of a one-well option with an estimated duration of 97 days.

Capricorn incurred $17.4 million in costs on the licence. This, together with costs of $5 million on neighbouring licences now to be relinquished, has been charged to the income statement.

When it comes to Capricorn’s further exploration plans, preparations continue to drill on the Diadem prospect in the neighbouring P2379 licence area with an expected spud in 2Q 2022. Capricorn is the operator of this licence with a 50 per cent WI.

In other Shell-related news on Tuesday, the oil major apologised for buying a cargo of Russian crude oil last week, a decision which was made with the security of supplies in mind and guided by the need to disentangle society from Russian energy.