RE: Drilling Results at Athena Project - ArticleWell 14/18b On The Athena Prospect In The Outer Moray Firth Area Of The North
Sea Comes Up Trumps For Ithaca Energy And Reochem
What a difference 15 years can make. Ithaca Energy, which floated on London’s AIM last June having
assembled 28 blocks and part blocks in the North Sea, has come up trumps with its maiden well in
the UKCS on the Athena prospect in the Outer Moray Firth.
The company was formed specifically to tap previously neglected reserves in this hydrocarbon
province either because they were not “material” or, for other reasons, not worth exploiting. Two
earlier wells on this prospect, 14/18-12 and 14/18-7, flowed at 1,250 barrels per day and 850 barrels
respectively indicating proven reserves of 22 million barrels. In the climate of the times these were not
considered commercial flow rates.
Things are different now, not least because back then oil prices were low. Although prices have now
come off their US$70 plus a barrel peak they are still at levels that make exploitation of known assets
worthwhile. It would be tempting to call the new well, 14/18b-15, a brown site project, but Chief
Operating Officer at Ithaca Neill Carson insists it is a green field project: “You have to regard this as a
new development. The project is in different hands. There is extensive 3D seismic which did not exist
before and a new Competent Persons Report by Gaffney Kline has indicated there are 24 million
barrels recoverable on the prospect. The kind of flow rates seen on this prospect are common in the
North Sea and are considered commercial - look at the neighbouring Scapa field,” he says.
But more importantly, Ithaca has adopted a different approach. It reckoned it could increase the flow
rate by positioning the well to expose more of the oil bearing sandstones. Accordingly, Athena
14/18b, which reached a target depth of 11,051 feet was drilled at a 60 degree angle to vertical
through the Lower Cretaceous Upper Leek Reservoir and encountered the reservoir 50 vertical feet
higher than the nearby 14/18-7 well that tested positive.
The 14/18-15 well intersected 632 feet of gross oil-bearing sandstones at the 60 degree angle drilled,
representing 329 feet vertical. Electric logs and other well data received to date indicate that this
interval contains 253 feet of net porous sands representing 127 feet vertical. There is no flow rate as
yet but Neill Carson says: “The results indicate a substantial amount of oil.”
Currently, production casing is being run to the total depth drilled and will be perforated for testing
purposes. It is anticipated that testing will require approximately 9 days and will commence while the
rig is on location. Depending upon the successful results of the tests, the well will be suspended for
future production. Ithaca reckons that with three production wells and one injector, with the crude
exported via an 18 km tie back to the Claymore field, the field could quickly be developed. Athena, in
which Ithaca has an 70 per cent interest, could be on stream in 2008 at rates in excess of 10,000
bpd.
The results of the well are also good news for AIM-listed Reochem. The group owns 33.3 per cent of
Zeus Petroleum (formerly Wimbledon), which in turn has a 10 per cent interest in 14/18b-15.
Reochem is better known as a service group. It specialises in supplying drilling fluids in the drilling of
exploration wells. Last summer it threw its hat into the upstream ring with the acquisition of a 55 per
cent working interest in 12 wells in Texas. Then it got together with a Swiss private investment group
to buy North Sea oil junior Wimbledon Oil & Gas.
Reochem CEO Haydn Gardner told oilbarrel.com: “Buying upstream assets is almost like a safety
mechanism against a downturn in the industry because oil service companies are really at the mercy
of the oil companies.”
The company expects first production from its US interests soon, albeit at a modest level. Including
the Athena prospect, Reochem has an interest in ten licence blocks (two partial blocks) located
across the central North Sea Basin of the UK Continental Shelf covering an area of approximately
2,000 sq kms. These comprise 4 traditional blocks with a 10 per cent interest and 6 promote blocks
with a 100 per cent interest.