Oilexco sets out plans for Brenda
00:03 GMT
Canadian independent Oilexco is planning to develop its Brenda oilfield in the UK North Sea through a tie-back to the existing Balmoral floater that will target first oil before the end of 2005 at up to 35,000 barrels per day.
The company headed by Art Millholland said this week that it aims to submit a development plan early next year to the Department of Trade & Industry for the Brenda East and Brenda West accumulations, which contain oil in paleocene Forties sands.
The Balmoral floating production unit is located just eight kilometres north-east of Brenda and Oilexco recently bought an interest in the field and floater.
Oilexco said the floater has more than 50,000 bpd of spare capacity, meaning there is plenty of room for Brenda's barrels.
On the drilling front, Oilexco said it has finished drilling its latest Brenda appraisal probe, comprising 15/25e-11 and sidetracks 15/25e-11Z and 15/25e-11Y.
It said the aim of this "well cluster" was to define the western and north-western limits of the "Brenda West" Paleocene Forties Sand oil accumulation.
It reiterated that the oil/water contact intersected by the 15/25e-11 well-bore is at a higher elevation than that intersected in well 15/25b-10 well, 1.5 kilometres to the south-east.
Oilexco said this suggested that the 15/25e-11 was evaluating another oil accumulation that may be separate from "Brenda West", as currently defined by wells 15/25b-9 and 15/25b-10.
The additional accumulation was said to have been confirmed by the third well-bore of the cluster 15/25e-11Y, which was 1 kilometre north-west of the 15/25e-11 straight-hole location. The second well-bore, 15/25e-11Z, 1.25 kilometres west of 15/25e-11, encountered oil-bearing Brenda Paleocene Forties
Sand pay near its western limits.
One industry source said Oilexco appears to have encountered a number of separate non-connected pools rather than a single big accumulation at Brenda, with just the East Brenda satellite, which would have allowed a simpler and cheaper development solution.
Oilexco's next step at Brenda will involve using the Transocean semi-submersible John Shaw putting down a two-bore well cluster to evaluate what it describes as a significant extension of Brenda East.
mark.hillier@upstreamonline.com
iain.esau@upstreamonline.com
