Neptune Begins Norwegian Drilling

UK independent Neptune Energy has begun its drilling campaign on the Fenja field offshore Norway, its first operated development project there, with the spudding of the first well, it said April 28. Fenja is estimated to contain 97mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and will deliver around 40,000 boe/d at plateau. The gas will initially be injected to maintain pressure before being produced towards the end of the field's life.

Neptune, which owns 30% of the field, said the aim of the first geo-pilots is to gain a better understanding of  the reservoir and to optimise the location of the production wells. Start-up is predicted for the end of next year.

“As our first operated development in the Norwegian North Sea, Fenja is an exciting project for Neptune and underlines the importance of the region to our geographically diverse business," it said.

The field, 120 km north of Kristiansund and at a water depth of 320 metres, will be tied back subsea to the Njord-A platform. At 36 km, it will be the world’s longest electrically trace-heated pipe-in-pipe subsea development.

The Fenja drilling campaign has been modified to address delays resulting from the impact of Covid-19 with the drilling to be done in three phases over the next two years. "This also provides greater flexibility to respond to subsurface insights gained from the geo-pilots, and the current challenging market conditions," it said. 

The drilling program for 2020 includes two top holes and two geopilots, with an expected duration of 85 days. The drilling program for 2020 will be carried out by the West Phoenix drilling rig, operated by Seadrill. Neptune's partners are Var Energi (45%), Suncor (17.5%) and DNO (7.5%).