Suncor Energy began operations at the Niobe exploration prospect in the UK North Sea, according to partner Trap Oil.
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Niobe map. From Suncor. |
Niobe is located in license P.1889, Blocks 12/26b & 27 of the UK Continental Shelf in the Outer Moray Firth. It is 40km from Caithness and 45km from Moray.
The well is being drilled using the ENSCO 100 jackup rig and well operations are currently anticipated to last approximately 31 days in the dry hole case.
According to Trap Oil, although Niobe is high risk with a 20% chance of success, it has the potential to be very valuable with estimated oil reserves of 20-25 MMbbl, the said in its 2014 annual report.
The drilling of the well is to establish the presence of productive, hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs in the primary target, Upper Jurassic Burns sandstones, and to determine the economic viability of the hydrocarbon volumes entrapped within the structure through the identification of reservoir properties of the primary target.
The ENSCO 100 rig left Dundee shipyard on 4 June 2015 and is currently under tight tow to the Niobe prospect location.
Suncor Energy is the operator of license P.1889 with 49.5% interest. Partners include Norwegian Energy Co. UK (22.5%) and Trap Oil (28%).
