BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. has made the first public disclosure of a discovery in U.K.'s West of Shetland area since it revealed results of the well drilled in October 1993 that found Schiehallion.
Details revealed to date are scant: BP and equal license partner Shell U.K. Ltd. said only that an exploration well on Block 204/19 had encountered a potentially commercial volume of hydrocarbons.
The discovery has been named Suilven but was not tested. BP said the Ocean Alliance semisubmersible rig drilled the discovery well 204/19-8z in 850 m of water during Apr. 8-June 8, 1996.
A BP official told OGJ the company has an idea of the size of the find but is not revealing details because it believes the reservoir extends to the north into Block 204/14.
This block has not been licensed, but BP applied late last year to U.K. Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) to have Block 204/14 and adjacent Block 204/15 designated for licensing out of round.
DTI confirmed the area to the north of Suilven has been designated for licensing ahead of U.K.'s next planned large-scale offering of acreage and will be offered to companies "in a few weeks time." DTI said the two blocks will be offered separately.
The BP official said the next hurdle in progress in Suilven will be trying to get the block to the north: "The last thing we want to do is tell the opposition what we've found there."
The company is not considering testing the well or further exploration on Block 204/19 until it hears the outcome of its bid for Block 204/14. DTI is expected to disclose its decision this summer.
Disclosure of Suilven discovery marks an end to a long period of silence over West of Shetland exploration. Only BP has pressed ahead with developments there, although Amerada Hess Ltd. and Texaco Ltd. have made discoveries (OGJ, June 20, 1994, p. 17).
While BP is developing Foinaven and Schiehallion discoveries, Amerada's find proved to be too complex and too small for early development, while Texaco's find is a gas reservoir in an area with no export infrastructure.
Although more than 100 wells have been drilled in West of Shetland, all those since 1993 have been tight holes, and there has been growing pessimism about the prospects for further sizable discoveries there.
The BP official said since discovery of Foinaven in 1993, one of its problems has been managing peoples' expectations about the West of Shetland play: "The West of Shetland is important, but it's not another North Sea."
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
