What if the Rolvsnes Extended Well Test, which is currently being performed by Lundin on the Utsira High, goes well and reports good production figures? Will there be an increased interest in the fractured basement play?
No doubt there will be enthusiasm, but probably still with some caution as well.
Attend the NCS Exploration – Recent Discoveries conference taking place in Oslo next month (June 8 & 9) and hear from Lundin about the latest results of the Rolvsnes Extended Well test!
The UKCS has got its fractured basement “play” zin the form of the Lancaster field, which has not delivered as well as expected even though the geology can only partly be blamed for that: the production wells were drilled when the oil-water contact leg was supposed to be much deeper than it later turned out to be.
The Lancaster story did not go unnoticed in Norway. Probably driven by the anticipated success of the West of Shetland development, Equinor and Petrolia were awarded PL933 in the Norwegian Northern North Sea, where they mapped the Molaris basement prospect. Initially on the agenda to be drilled in 2021, the licence was relinquished in March of this year. Unfortunately, the relinquishment report is not available on NPD Factpages yet, but it is likely that the results reported from the UK were a key factor in the diminished appetite to get Molaris drilled.
Is there more potential in fractured basement in Norway?
When looking at the map below, which shows basement well penetrations in the North Sea, it can be seen that the UK sector has seen a much larger number of wells drilled into basement. In Norway, there is only a cluster of wells on the Utsira High and in the Gjøa area and further north – including the area where the recent Hamlet well was drilled.
This indicates that basement rocks are much less explored in Norway than in the UK, where a string of wells can be seen lining up with the southern margin of the Faroe-Shetland Basin as well as the East Shetland Basin.
However, does this automatically equate to there being more exploration potential in basement rocks on the NCS? Probably not so much, given that the depth of burial of this interval will probably be in the overcooking danger zone across most parts. That implies that if there is an increased appetite again to test basement prospectivity in Norway, it will most likely result in another licence application in the Molaris area or its structural equivalent where basement rocks are present at favourable depths.
HENK KOMBRINK
