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UK: review of operations |
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The licence position built in the southwest of the Weald Basin of Southern England contains extensions of existing fields, undeveloped discoveries and exploration prospects. The licences contain most of the best development of the Great Oolite reservoir within the Weald Basin in an oil prone fairway that produces at the Stockbridge, Avington, Horndean, Singleton, Lidsey and Storrington oil fields. Northern has continued to build on this licence position and was awarded additional licences in the UK 13th Onshore Licencing Round in 2008 that adds another undeveloped discovery and exploration prospects to the portfolio. Activities have concentrated on gaining the necessary planning approvals to drill in regions where considerable effort is required to secure potential drilling sites. Extensive communication with all stakeholders has taken place to ensure Northern’s operations are aligned with environmental and other regulatory conditions. This work is by necessity comprehensive and time consuming but extremely important if approvals and the support of the local community are to be gained. OverviewHaving access to the vast majority of the 2D seismic data and well data for the acreage under licence has enabled Northern to map the Weald Basin at a regional scale. As a result of this work, valuable insight has been learned as to the controls on hydrocarbon trapping in the subsurface. Northern has applied this knowledge to high grade an extensive prospect portfolio which it has built across the acreage it holds under licence. This has greatly assisted in de-risking the near to medium term exploration drilling plans of the Company. Planning approval has been gained for a drilling site at Markwells Wood in West Sussex for a well planned on PEDL 126 to evaluate a mapped extension of the Horndean oil field. The access track and site build began on 30 March 2009 and it is expected that the well will be drilled in 2009 or early 2010, subject to rig availability. A planning approval has also been gained for an exploration well near Havant in Hampshire from a site adjacent to the A3(M) and site build is expected to commence in Q4 2009. Production continues with little decline from the Horndean field. In January 2009 production start up took place on the Avington field. Weald Basin - Future Drilling PlansThe Markwells Wood well in PEDL 126 (50% Northern) will be the next well to be operated by Northern in the UK. Since gaining planning approval in May 2008 it has taken a year of work to fulfil the conditions attached to the planning consent before site construction could commence. This underlines the timescales involved for a responsible operator to ensure that full consultation has taken place in advance of site construction and eventual drilling. The well will target an eastward extension of the Horndean field, estimated to contain 27.5 million barrels of oil in place on PEDL 126. However, the oil recovery for these reservoir is modest, with fields in the area averaging a little over 10%. However the application of recent developments in production technology may improve ultimate oil recovery from these reservoirs. In May 2008 Northern (50%) together with Providence Resources (GB) Limited (“Providence”), who operate the nearby Singleton oil field, were awarded PEDL 233. Providence will act as operator with Northern responsible for the subsurface evaluation. The licence contains the undeveloped Baxters Copse oil discovery drilled by Conoco in 1983. Since award of the acreage all of the previously acquired 2D seismic data for the licence has been reprocessed and the new mapping of the discovery indicates the potential for 18 million barrels of oil in place. It is considered feasible to drill long reach wells from the Singleton oil field site to develop the Baxters Copse discovery and Northern is working with Providence to evaluate this development option. An exploration prospect similar to and south of the Horndean field has been mapped on PEDL 155 (50% Northern) and newly awarded licence PEDL 256 (50% Northern). Work associated with fulfilling the conditions of the planning consent is ongoing prior to site build. The prospect, ‘Havant’ is estimated to contain 16 million barrels of oil in place. The Hedge End discovery in PEDL 125 (50% Northern) requires a suitable site from which to drill an appraisal well. This is a challenging task in an area with a high density population. However work has identified a drilling site that would, it is believed, satisfy community and environmental considerations. Additional undeveloped oil discoveries exist in PEDL 126 (50% Northern) at Chilgrove, Hinton Manor and Clanfield. The Chilgrove discovery is considered as the most suitable candidate for appraisal with a view to development after integrating data from Markwells Wood. Horndean Field – Maintains Production LevelsHorndean (held under PL 211, 10% Northern) continues to perform well and production averaged 182 bopd for 2008. Since Northern’s purchase of its equity in Horndean in December 2003, the field has seen little decline with production levels averaging 206 bopd in 2004, 192 bopd in 2005, 178 bopd in 2006 and 184 bopd in 2007. Well workover operations conducted by Star Energy as operator have maintained production levels and it is expected that the field will continue to perform better than anticipated based on the previous years of production history. Avington Field – in ProductionAvington (held under PEDL 070, 5% Northern) commenced production in January 2009 and has since then averaged close to 200 bopd. Early production was unassisted, however production is now assisted by a jet pump. Field performance will be monitored by Star Energy as operator to consider if further development activity is warranted. KentThree prospects in PEDL 153 (33.34% Northern) have been identified on trend with the Palmers Wood oil field and the 2D seismic data over these prospects has recently been reprocessed with considerable improvement in quality. This data will be used to rank the prospects for drilling to target the Corallian sandstone reservoir which is productive at the nearby Palmers Wood oil field. Wessex BasinThe company was awarded PEDL 240 (62.5% Northern) in May 2008 which contains a prospect that extends from PEDL 098 (62.5% Northern) and is considered prospective for gas. Gas discoveries on trend to PEDL 240 in Bournemouth Bay, south of the Purbeck/Isle of Wight/Pays de Bray fault system have proved that the potential for gas exists in this geological setting. All of the seismic data that defines this prospect have recently been reprocessed and interpretation is ongoing to define the drilling target. Work will then continue in order to secure a surface location from which drilling operations can be conducted. Further information |
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