The Falklands: Penguin News
November 27
Drilling finished for now
OIL company Shell have
completed the drilling of the final
well in a six well drilling
campaign which began in April
this year, it was announced late
last week.
Although shows of hydrocarbons
were present in the well no
economic accumulation was
discovered, but Desire Petroleum,
who have an interest in the North
Falkland Basin say further drilling
may well take place in the future.
No immediate follow-up wells are
planned, however, and oil rig
Borgny Dolphin is expected to
soon leave Falklands' waters.
According to a press release from
Desire Petroleum PLC, all the
companies involved in the drilling
campaign will now be interpreting
the data acquired in order to
'more fully assess the
hydrocarbon potential of the North
Falkland Basin.'
The release states 'The initial
results from the drilling campaign
have demonstrated the widespread
presence of good quality source
rocks together with formations
with good reservoir potential, and
the North Falkland Basin appears
to host a well developed
hydrocarbon system.'
No commercially viable
hydrocarbon accumulations have
been discovered but Desire say they
believe further exploration drilling
is justified.
They say the present, historically
low, level of oil prices is inhibiting
the willingness of many companies
to carry out exploration, and '..it is
therefore likely that there will be a
lull in further drilling in the North
Falkland Basin until such time as
oil prices recover to a level sufficient
to make it attractive again.'
Desire, a company predominantly
owned by Falklands shareholders, is
currently processing recently
acquired seismic data from Tranches
I and L and will be interpreting it
during the coming months. Their
press release adds, 'However, if the
Borgny Dolphin leaves
the area it may be some time before
a rig is available to drill a well on
these Tranches. If this is the case,
the board of Desire will consider
whether or not it is appropriate for
the Company to seek other
opportunities outside the Falkland
Islands.'
Talking to Penguin News this
week, Director of Hydrocarbons
and Mineral Resources, Phyl
Rendell, stated, "The Falkland
Islands Government always said
they didn't expect to discover oil
in commercial quantities at this
early stage."
She said, "The wells have been
drilled and we have evidence of
hydrocarbon sources - now the
enormous amount of data will be
analysed in the next six months to
a year before it is decided where to
drill next."
Referring to low oil prices thus a
lack of funds for exploration she
added, "we have been fortunate to
have got where we have." Borgny
Dolphin is presently in Berkeley
Sound where she is undergoing
repairs to a propeller.
David Lesley of Dolphin Drilling
commented on Thursday that they
expected the repairs to be
completed by the weekend.
He said preparations for Borgny
Dophin to head North were
currently underway though her final
destination is as yet undecided.
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