Azinor Catalyst Moves Forward with Planned 2017 well on its Partridge Prospect, UK North Sea
Thursday 19 January 2017
Azinor Catalyst (“Catalyst”), the Seacrest Capital Group-backed E&P company focused on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (“UKCS”), is pleased to announce that it has initiated a tendering process to carry out a site survey on one of its UK North Sea licences in preparation for drilling later in 2017. The site survey relates to a Catalyst operated well targeting the Partridge Prospect (the “Prospect”).
Catalyst secured a 100% operated interest in blocks 14/11, 14/12 and 14/16, which contain the Partridge Prospect, in December 2015. The Prospect is located within the Jura Sub-Basin of the Outer Moray Firth and is adjacent to the Scapa, Claymore and Athena oil fields.
The Partridge Prospect is a large structurally controlled stratigraphic trap comprising deep-water mass flow sands of the Lower Cretaceous Scapa Formation and has an associated direct hydrocarbon indicator. This seismic signature is directly analogous to the one observed in the Lower Cretaceous sands at the producing Scapa and Claymore Fields.
The Partridge Prospect’s pre-drill recoverable volumes have been estimated at 119 million barrels oil equivalent in the mid case, with an upside case of 260 million barrels oil equivalent. Furthermore, the Prospect has a relatively shallow and normally pressured reservoir with an estimated gross well cost of US$8-9 million.
Nick Terrell, Managing Director of Azinor Catalyst, commented:
“We are delighted to be in a position to move the Partridge Prospect forward into the drilling phase. The Prospect has the potential to significantly change the industry’s perception of this under-explored part of the basin and we look forward to testing this exciting opportunity with the drill bit later in the year.
“In addition, we are in a position to capitalise on the significant reductions in drilling costs that we have seen in the UK North Sea market, with a reduction of over 50% in overall well cost since the beginning of the downturn in 2014.”