Fogelberg Appraisal in Sight
Tuesday 20 June 2017
Centrica has lined up semi-submersible Deepsea Bergen to drill an appraisal well at the Fogelberg discovery off Norway towards a possible development of the find, with Dea apparently selling out of the licence.
Partner Faroe Petroleum said in a statement it was now upping its stake in production licence 433 that hosts Fogelberg to 33.3%, from an earlier 25%, with operator Centrica on 66.7%, compared with a previous position of 50%.
German player Dea, backed by Russian investor Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne group, has previously held a 25% stake but now looks set to exit the licence.
The remaining partner pair now plan to sink an appraisal at Fogelberg in late 2017 or early next year using the Odfjell Drilling-owned rig with the aim of firming up proven and probable reserves prior to front-end engineering work for a possible field development, according to London-listed Faroe.
The rig charter with Centrica marks the latest deal for the veteran 1983-built Deepsea Bergen, which has gained a succession of jobs off Norway despite a market slump as players take advantage of a probable low dayrate for the semisub.
Centrica was earlier this year granted an extended deadline by the authorities to 30 June 2019 to submit a plan for development and operation for Fogelberg after deciding to exploit the Norwegian Sea gas and condensate discovery as a subsea tieback to Statoil’s Aasgard B platform.
The appraisal will be drilled back-to-back with a wildcat to be sunk by Wellesley Petroleum at the Goanna prospect in the northern North Sea - its debut well off Norway - in which Faroe is also a participant.
Meanwhile, Faroe said it expects approval from the government shortly for the development plan for Statoil’s Njord Future and Bauge field projects, in which it is a partner, having recently seen the green light given for Centrica-operated Oda in which it also has an interest.
In a further licence reshuffle, Faroe has handed over 80% of East Corrib licence 16/23 off Ireland to Nexen Petroleum in a farm-out deal to leave it with a 20% stake, with Nexen to take over operatorship and meet the full costs of an associated work programme including seismic acquisition and a possible seismic survey.
Chief executive Graham Stewart said though the company, with available loan funding of $350 million, is aiming for further expansion with its eyes on “further consolidation opportunities on the Norwegian and UK continental shelves”, suggesting it is looking at possible asset buys.
He said Faroe is “now in position for a major growth phase” at it seeks to boost production from 15,100 to 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day organically over the next five years.