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Statoil probes Canadian frontiers
Gary Park For Petroleum News
Norway’s Statoil is wasting no time moving ahead with recently negotiated partnerships to explore Canada’s offshore frontiers in the Beaufort Sea and Newfoundland.
It will participate with 60 percent operator Chevron Canada in gathering 3-D seismic in the Beaufort this summer and, as operator, has secured a deepwater rig to drill three wells (two in the Flemish Pass and one in the Jeanne d’Arc basin of Newfoundland) in 2012 and 2013.
The Beaufort operations will be conducted on Exploration License 460 and cover 1,000-2,500 square kilometers in water depths of 800-1,800 meters, Chevron spokesman Leif Sollid told Petroleum News.
He said that after a year of planning, the partnership has submitted a regulatory application, aiming to start work about 120 kilometers north of Herschel Island by late summer, depending on ice conditions.
A program description submitted to the National Energy Board said the ship-borne marine geophysical program is expected to last from 40 to 70 days.
It’s a key part of renewed interest in exploring for oil in the Beaufort, although Chevron is not saying whether it is primarily targeting oil or natural gas.
Newfoundland plans Statoil said it hopes to become an operator in Newfoundland, where it holds a 50 percent interest in the two Flemish Pass licenses, while Chevron has 40 percent and Spain’s Repsol 10 percent.
Statoil is operator of an exploration program on the Fiddlehead prospect in Jeanne d’Arc, where it also participated in the Suncor Energy-operated Ballicatters discovery.
“We have ambitious exploration targets offshore Newfoundland and securing rig capacity is essential for reaching those targets,” said Geir Richardsen, head of exploration for Statoil in Canada.
The two parcels are west of Statoil’s Mizzen discovery, which is now categorized as a Significant Discovery License, based on indications of sufficient hydrocarbons to support commercial development over a prolonged period.
The rig is Seadrill’s West Aquarius, which was built in South Korea in 2009 and can operate in difficult conditions of up to 3,000 meters of water depth. It is currently working for ExxonMobil in Asia.
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