Premier Strikes Gas in North Sea
Premier Oil has struck gas at a well 4 km east of its 500bn-ft3 Tolmount gas field in the UK’s southern North Sea, the company reported on October 17.
The Tolmount East well was sunk in an undrilled area and was targeting 220bn ft3 of P50 gross resources, Premier said in a statement. The probe tapped into a 241-ft gas-bearing high quality Leman sand layer.
Well data will be integrated with new 3D seismic datasets as part of the fast-track development planning for Tormount East. Work is “already well advanced,” ahead of a project sanction expected in the second half of 2020, Premier said, noting the discovery had positive implications for other targets within the Greater Tolmount area, including the Tolmount Far East and the Mongour finds.
“We are delighted with this commercial discovery at Tolmount East, the development of which will add significant value to our UK portfolio,” CEO Tony Durrant said. “Elsewhere in the Greater Tolmount Area, we are making excellent progress with our sanctioned Tolmount development which remains on schedule for first gas by the end of next year and will add a net 20,000 to 25,000 boepd to group production.”
Tolmount East is situated in licence P1330, which Premier operates with a 50% stake. The remaining 50% is held by Dana Petroleum, a unit of Korea National Oil Corp. The pair began drilling the well on August 8 using the Ensco 123 rig, according to the Oil and Gas Authority.