With a three-fold increase in estimated recoverable reserves (see below), the Hamlet discovery may now progress to development through a tie-back to the Neptune-operated Gjøa facilities.
Hamlet is reservoired in Lower Cretaceous Agat Formation sandstones, similar to the Duva field to the southeast. As further explained in this article, the Agat sandstones in Duva consist of several turbidite lobes, which required a careful development drilling strategy in order to tap into all sandbodies that can be separated by mudstones.
A similar depositional environment may also be applied to Hamlet, which is only about 4 km away. In turn, the complex reservoir architecture could also be the explanation as to why the Hamlet outline carried by Neptune is different from the one carried by the NPD. See below for a further reflection on this.
Do you want to know more about Hamlet? We are pleased to be able to confirm that Neptune Energy will present about the recent Hamlet wells during the upcoming NCS Exploration – Recent Discoveries Conference, taking place in Olso 8 & 9 June. See here for the full program and registration.
Outlines and wells
It is interesting to read in yesterday’s NPD’s press release on the Hamlet drilling campaign that both of the recently drilled 35/9-16S and 35/9-16A wells are carried as appraisals. In a context where very near-field wells can still be seen as wild cats, this seems to be a bit of an anomaly at first glance. However, looking at the map above, which shows the Hamlet outline carried by the NPD in red, it is understandable why the NPD regards the 35/9-3 well as the official discovery well of Hamlet.
At the same time, the prospect outline as presented by Neptune does not include the 35/9-3 well, which may again lead to the question whether there is room for another interpretation. That is the reason why we initially argued for 35/9-16S to be carried as an exploration well.
It is probably the combination of a complex reservoir architecture of the Agat sandstones and the fact that the reservoir quality in the 35/9-3 well is considered poor that Neptune decided to not include the northern section of the NPD Hamlet outline in their mapped discovery. Whether this should be a reason to reclassify 35/9-16S as an exploration well is a bit of an academic matter.
At the end of the day, volumes count: before the drilling of the appraisal, the recoverable resources of Hamlet ranged from 3.9 to 7 MMboe. This has now been upgraded to 13.8 to 21.4 MMboe after drilling of the wells, which has put Hamlet in a better position to be developed.
HENK KOMBRINK
