Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc said that, following “disappointing” results, it would abandon and plug the SA02 well in the joint venture Serenity field.
STRATEGY
The company owns 25% of the project with operator i3 Energy plc holding 75%.
The gross well cost is forecast to be £10.4 million with an estimated total cost to Europa of £4.8m.
The well was drilled to a total depth of 5,630ft, targeting Lower Cretaceous Captain sand, which contained hydrocarbons in the 13/23c-10 well, but absent in SA02.
“Over 100ft of other Captain sands in various sequences were encountered but these were found to be water wet and as such a decision has been made not to run wireline logs,” said Europa in a statement.
Chief executive officer Simon Oddie added that although the result was disappointing, data gathered during the drilling of SA02 had improved understanding of the Serenity field.
“We continue to interpret the well data which will help us establish a suitable development plan to maximise the value of the already discovered resources within the eastern area of the Serenity field.
“The SA02 well was drilled safely and below budget and has demonstrated how well the i3 Energy and Europa teams work together.
“We look forward to continuing to build on this strong relationship with i3E as we work on assessing the monetisation routes for the discovered resources at Serenity.”
Mr Oddie added that Europa was in a financially strong position with current production at Wressle generating material monthly net income.
“We will continue to execute on our stated strategy of pursuing new assets to build a balanced portfolio, focusing on opportunities that need further appraisal to unlock the asset value.”