Exploration wells in 2002 and a future licensing round off Ireland have renewed interest in the hostile Atlantic Margin region.

Exploration acreage in the Atlantic Margin from the Faeroe Islands to northwest Scotland and down to Ireland's west coast saw a succession of new and deepwater wells toward the end of 2002 that demonstrated enthusiasm for the region despite some of the world's toughest operating conditions.
In the coming year, two more Atlantic Margin exploration wells are in prospect - one by ChevronTexaco and another by Amerada Hess.

Also, Ireland's Department of the Marine and Natural Resources has launched an offshore licensing round in a bid to attract the drill bit back to this part of the world.

As 2002 drew to a close, two new west of Shetland wells were drilling, one by Amerada Hess on the Cambo prospect, and another by Agip on the Antaeus prospect. Both are off the United Kingdom's northwest coast, not far from the producing Schiehallion and Foinaven fields.

Cambo was drilled with the West Navion drillship. Amerada Hess is operating with ultratight status on the 204/10-1 well, spudded Oct. 19 in 3,740-ft (1,149-m) waters. Cambo is north of Foinaven, Schiehallion and the 1999 Suilven oil discovery. Drilling partners are Amerada Hess, operator, and ChevronTexaco, each with 32.5% equity; Denmark's Dansk Olie og Naturgas, which has 20%; and Austria's OMV, with 15%.

The Jack Bates semisubmersible is drilling Agip's Antaeus exploration well, 164/27-1, in 3,879-ft (1,180-m) waters in the northern eastern Rockall Trough, 62.5 miles (100 km) north of the Isle of Lewis off Scotland's west coast. Agip intends to drill Antaeus to a 5,805-ft (1,770-m) TD subsea, but there are no plans to test the prospect, and the well is to be abandoned at the end of the drilling operation.
The well is in license P960, on acreage awarded in the United Kingdom's 17th Licensing Round in 1997. Agip is operator of three blocks within this license - 164/27, 28 and 29 - and it holds 48.16% equity. License partners are Shell, OMV and Amerada Hess, each holding 17.28%

In August 1999 Agip was given a permit to drill a previous exploration well in Block 164/28 to a depth of 8,200 ft (2,500 m) in 2,788-ft (850-m) waters. That well was completed tight in July 2000, according to Wood Mackenzie, and is only 6.25 miles (10 km) east of Antaeus. Therefore it is possible Antaeus is targeting a similar structure to the 2000 well.

With the light oil discovery made on the Marjun prospect off the Faeroes in November 2001, islanders had good reason to be optimistic about the prospectivity of their offshore acreage, prompting hopes of an oil boom. Although untested, the Amerada Hess-operated 6004/16-1z Marjun well encountered a 557-ft (170-m) gross pay zone when it was drilled with the Sovereign Explorer semisubmersible in 3,100-ft (950-m) waters.

Using the West Navion drillship, Amerada continued in the region with its 204/16-1 Faeroes Extension, described as an appraisal of Marjun and just south of the median line in UK waters in the Faeroe-Shetland Trough targeting Upper Cretaceous shale. Although the well was drilled to a 14,022-ft (4,275-m) TD - equivalent to a 13,903-ft (4,239-m) TVD - the well was not commercial. Consequently the well was plugged and abandoned.

Prior to the conclusion of that well, independent Premier Oil farmed into some of this Atlantic Margin license acreage in a deal with BG to gain interests in license P1029, encompassing blocks 176/20 and 204/16. The deal saw BG reduce its share of the license from 39.6% to 23.6%, and Premier gained 16% by paying for part of the work program on the Faeroes Extension well.

ChevronTexaco is committed to a Block 204/17 exploration well - close to the median line with the Faeroes and two blocks west of Foinaven.

Amerada also is to drill the Bedlington prospect with the 204/21-2 well, which was deferred from 2002.
Further south offshore Ireland, the Dooish deepwater well drilled by Shell subsidiary Enterprise Energy Ireland (EEI) late in 2002 was abandoned by the Jack Bates due to worsening weather, although the well hit a substantial hydrocarbon column. Shell spudded the 12/2-1 Rockall Basin well Aug. 2, 2002, where the rig was operating in 4,867-ft (1,484-m) waters - the deepest since Enterprise Oil's 5/22-1 Errigal well to a depth of 5,323 ft (1,623 m) drilled between April and July 2001 with the West Navion. It was a dry hole.

Still offshore Ireland, the republic's Department of the Marine and Natural Resources announced plans for a new Porcupine Basin licensing round offering 241 blocks of deep acreage off west and southwest Ireland in four tranches. Applications for the four areas are invited every 6 months from March 2003 to October 2004.

Launching the new round in Dublin in November 2002, Ireland Minister of Natural Resources John Browne said: "I believe there is real potential for economic accumulations of oil and gas off our coast. Without facilitating exploration we will never realize this potential. I have no doubt that the Porcupine Licensing Initiative...coupled with our licensing terms, provides enterprising companies with an opportunity to pursue that potential."