It is nearly Christmas, so it’s the time of the year to have a look back at what happened. For that reason, we have compiled both a map and a diagram to summarise and illustrate the exploration and appraisal wells spudded in 2021.
Barents Sea
One of the conclusions that can be drawn from the Barents Sea is that frontier exploration has not paid off, whilst some success was reported through drilling more near-field wells such as Isflak and Rødhette. There must clearly have been disappointment when the results of Shenzhou came in – do you remember that there was a bit of an EM anomaly within the outline of the prospect? Similarly, even though expectations were not very high from the start, the result of the Stangnestind exploration well were nothing to be too excited about either. Lundin generated some headlines for the Barents Sea lately, but that wasn’t because of drilling success, but because the company bought an additional interest in the Wisting development.
Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian Sea has not seen too many well spuds this year. However, it is home to one of the most frontier and daring exploration attempts across the region. The Fat Canyon well – even though it came in dry – was drilled in an unconventional setting on top of the Frøya High. At the same time, the Cretaceous turbidite sand plays in this area were tested by a couple of wells. The relatively limited reservoir thicknesses and subtle closures characteristic for this play are probably behind the mixed results; the Black Vulture appraisal well turned out dry, but Equinor and partner Longboat were successful at Egyptian Vulture.
North Sea
What is striking about the North Sea is the recent uptake in wells being drilled in the UK sector, whilst a contrasting picture can be seen in Norway where the number of well spuds has declined. Harbour is particularly busy in the J-area, but Shell has also started a two-well exploration campaign around the Nelson field. In the Netherlands, Kistos has proven to be an active player with the appraisal of both the Q10 and Q11 discoveries just off the west coast.
Another interesting development is geothermal drilling. In the UK, the Eden project is well underway drilling kilometres into fractured basement following the success of the United Down project. In the Netherlands, the Leeuwarden well was drilled to test the geothermal potential of the Rotliegend, but preliminary analyses seem to indicate that the reservoir quality is not ideal. A little further south, another well has just been spudded (Luttelgeest-GT-10) that also targets the Rotliegend.
All is all, the conclusion can be drawn that frontier exploration has not delivered this year, most discoveries are oil and a further diversification into geothermal is clearly visible. Let’s see what 2022 brings.
HENK KOMBRINK
