Basement exploration, West of Shetlands: progress in opening a new play on the UKCS

Abstract

Commercial production of hydrocarbon from fractured crystalline basement is well documented, with petroleum basins across the globe hosting fractured basement fields.

The Lancaster Field: progress in opening the UK's fractured basement play

“…The range of estimated fracture apertures is consistent with extremely high fracture permeability (K air ) and zero immobile water saturation (S w ) (Aguilera 1999). which compares favourably with the previously reported wireline derived value of 4.7% (Trice 2014).…”

“…Volumetric ranges are presented as Table 1: however, it should be noted that the volumetric assessment was written prior to the 205/21a-6 horizontal development well drilled in 2014, the productivity of which transformed Hurricane's understanding of the Lancaster reservoir productivity potential. This paper builds on previous publications (Slightam 2012;Trice 2014;Bonter 2015;Belaidi et al 2016) and provides a summary of the progress Hurricane has made in de-risking Lancaster. The paper is split into five sections covering drilling history, reservoir description, fracture porosity, field simulation and technical de-risking.…”

“…Of these, the combination of production logging and borehole image logs confirmed that an effective fracture system was present throughout the penetrated reservoir, and that productivity was not confined by either lithology or depth. Further details describing the 205/21a-4 and 205/21a-4Z drilling and testing operations can be found in Slightam (2012) and Trice (2014).…”

Hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation West of Shetlands

“…Discoveries seem to have come in batches with Clair and Victory in the late 1970s, Laxford and Laggan in the mid-1980s, Strathmore, Solan, Foinaven, Schiehallion and Suilven in the early 1990s, Tobermory and Benbecula in the late 1990s, Cambo and Rosebank in the early part of the last decade and a stream of around 10 more discoveries in the last few years (Fielding et al 2014;Trice 2014).…”

“…Misinterpretation of high-amplitude features has also contributed to the failure of several wells, especially when the amplitude anomalies were inferred in proximity of updip limit/pinch-out edges of reservoirs. Trice (2014) passionately describes the exploration for fractured basement plays in the FaroesShetland Basin and the challenges associated with drilling and evaluating the results, especially when you are a small player with funding issues.…”