Tomas, hello again,
Well... Mr. Chambers cetainly tip-toed around that one, didn't he? The North Sea, like the GOM, is a mature province which by definition means the prospects are becoming smaller. Unlike the GOM, there do not appear to be the sort of deep water depositional environments that have been attracting so much attention and sustaining the GOM exploration infrastructure.
Finding/lifting costs, I would imagine, would be similar for N. Sea prospects when put alongside the tremendous cost of some of these GOM plays - that is, if you were to strip out the cost associated with the enormous regulatory burden that comes with operating in the N. Sea. Keep in mind that the North Sea was never just an oil and gas development - it was also about jobs. The cost implication of all this regulation is poorly tracked but cannot be ignored.
While I work in mostly 3rd world countries, my company is active in the North Sea. Typically, one of my wells will have a core staff of 3 - 4 people, with other 'time-writers' (people who devote a portion of their work day) numbering around 5 - 8, maybe. In the North Sea arena, that number is easily doubled, usually trebled.
Good Luck to All
Aggie |
