Oil and gas group Encore Oil (LON:EO.) said this morning that it had signed a rig contract ahead of plans to begin further drilling in UKCS Central North Sea Block 28/9, where the Catcher discovery was made in June this year. The Transocean Galaxy II heavy duty jack-up rig is expected to return to the Catcher area later this week to drill up to four exploration and appraisal wells. The first well in the programme is on the Varadero exploration prospect situated to the west of the Catcher discovery.

The Catcher block is held by a joint venture partnership comprising EnCore Oil (15%, operator), Premier Oil (LON:PMO) (35%), Wintershall (20%), Nautical Petroleum (LON:NPE) (15%) and Agora Oil & Gas (15%). In July this year, the companies drilled the Catcher South West Appraisal sidetrack well, which encountered excellent quality oil bearing Cromarty sandstones. The sidetrack well (28/9-1Y) was drilled to the south west of the earlier Catcher well to assess any additional reservoir sands not encountered in the original discovery well. As a result of the latest analysis, the Catcher/ Catcher East reserves estimate was increased to a range of 60m – 100m barrels from previous estimates of 50m – 80m barrels. For further discussion about the Catcher discovery, click here.

Commenting on the rig contract, Alan Booth, EnCore's chief executive, said: “We are delighted that the rig contract has been signed and we have a firm timeframe for further drilling in the Catcher area. The team has done a significant amount of work to enable further exploration and appraisal of the block in such a short timeframe. We remain excited about the upside potential of the Catcher area which we hope will be better understood in the coming weeks and months.”

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