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Husky makes oil strike in Newfoundland
Gary Park For Petroleum News
Husky Energy, currently the most active company in Atlantic Canada’s offshore, has brought some cheer to an otherwise bleak exploration year in the region, disclosing a possible new source of oil just 48 hours after acquiring a highly prospective parcel in the same area.
The find points to “significant additional potential” within the White Rose oil field, where Husky and Suncor Energy (following its takeover of Petro-Canada) own the project that has been producing for four years, said Husky Chief Executive Officer John Lau.
He said the North Amethyst E-17 well, drilled a year ago, will be further evaluated as part of an on-going program of development drilling and near-field exploration in the Jeanne d’Arc basin.
The third producing field in offshore Newfoundland, White Rose has current capacity of 120,000 barrels per day.
The E-17 well encountered 180 feet of “high-quality, oil-bearing reservoir,” with an estimated 30 million to 85 million barrels of petroleum initially in place and a best estimate of 60 million barrels.
It was drilled to delineate the Ben Nevis formation, which is the producing formation at White Rose, and to explore the potential of a second, deeper horizon called the Hibernia formation.
Husky said initial studies suggest the new resources could be developed from the recently installed satellite infrastructure at North Amethyst, which is scheduled to come on stream early next year and peak at 37,000 bpd once all wells are connected, tapping a resource of 70 million barrels.
The Hibernia formation resources are in addition to those discovered in the main White Rose pool in the 1980s, where an updated analysis has yielded “very encouraging” results, with an estimate of discovered petroleum initially in place of 100 million to 250 million barrels (best estimate of 170 million barrels), Husky said.
No timetable set The company will not set a timetable for development of the new horizon until it files amendments to its original White Rose development plan.
As part of a C$2.5 billion program, which included spending of about C$800 million this year, to build on White Rose as a core part of Husky’s operations, the partnership is also advancing other satellite fields at White Rose South and White Rose West.
Husky estimates White Rose needs 19 to 21 wells, seven or eight of them horizontal producers, to stretch production over a 20-year life.
Working interests in the White Rose field are held by Husky at 72.5 percent and Suncor at 27.5 percent, while the North Amethyst satellite is controlled by Husky at 68.875 percent, Suncor 26.125 percent and the Newfoundland government’s Nalcor Energy at 5 percent.
Successful bid To expedite their assessment of the Hibernia formation potential, Husky and Suncor made a successful bid of C$36.8 million to acquire another 23,600 acres at the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board’s 2009 calls for bids.
Other successful bids were made by ConocoPhillips Canada and BHP Billiton Petroleum — C$8 million for 717,000 acres and $1 million for a parcel of 18,300 acres, both in the Laurentian subbasin.
Ptarmigan Energy committed C$1.2 million to secure rights to 34,600 acres in the Western Newfoundland and Labrador offshore region.
It was the first call for bids in the Laurentian subbasin since the board was established 23 years ago, although ConocoPhillips holds four exploration licenses — one of which expires by mid-2010 — and is trying to line up a deepwater rig to extend the terms of those rights.
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