well maybe, but before the two recent wells (one dry, one a discovery of unknown potential but pretty obviously not a barn burner or we would have heard of it), there have been 11 wells drilled in the area since 1967. Two of these were in water depths of >500m. There seems to be plenty of HC indications which is to be expected since a source rock has been identified. Of these 11 wells, 6 were dry (assessed lack of reservoir), 4 were dry (assessed lack of seal or seal failure due to an overabundance of sand). The remaining one was the V-1 deep water well drilled by Shell in 1974, assessed as no significant reservoir quality sands, even though it was reported that 7 litres of oil were recovered from 2 thin bedded fine grained calcite cemented sandstones. These results are not particularly indicative of a super prolific basin. Sure the wells were based on old 2D seismic, but the structures are not hugely difficult to identify, and they did not fail because of lack of 3D seismic, they failed through lack of reservoirs and seals. Not to say that eventually a commercial discovery will not be made, but over enthusiasm can be costly in the shorter term. All the best.
HDR Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
