Pharis Energy, the North Sea focused company with the intention of initiating the first major offshore steam flood project in the world, is delighted to announce that it has been awarded part-blocks 28/2a and 28/3a in the 31st Seaward Licensing Round (“31stRound”) by the Oil and Gas Authority (“OGA”). Pharis will hold a 100% interest in the newly awarded licence.
Blocks 28/2a and 28/3a, are less than twenty km from the Pilot field in the Central North Sea and cover the Elke and Narwhal discoveries.
The Narwhal field was discovered by well 28/2-1, which was drilled by Arco in 1993. The well encountered heavy oil in an Eocene Tay sandstone and a sample of 14° API oil was recovered. This interval was also logged and cored. The Narwhal field has an estimated oil in place of around 27 mmbbls.
The Elke field was discovered by well 28/3-1B which was drilled by Murphy in 2000. The Elke field is also a Tay sandstone reservoir, but of a slightly different age to that encountered in the Narwhal well. A full logging suite was recorded, reservoir pressures were measured and oil samples were taken. Core was also recovered over the reservoir interval. The API gravity of the oil samples ranges from 12º to 15° API and the oil viscosity is believed to lie in the range 300 to 800 cP. The Elke field has an estimated oil in place of about 200 mmbbls.
Steve Brown, CEO of Pharis, said:
“We are delighted to have been awarded these discovered fields which add real substance and momentum to our Pilot Project, and is in line with our strategy of pursuing proven opportunities. When taken together with the Pilot Main, Pilot South, Harbour, Blakeney and Feugh discoveries, which lie less than twenty kilometres to the North West, there are some 640 mmbbls of heavy oil in place, in high quality shallow sandstone reservoirs well suited to being steam flooded. We envisage developing the Elke and Narwhal fields as part of a wider Western Platform Area Project centred on the Pilot field in Licence P2244 creating an integrated development concept to exploit this substantial resources base.”
