Cairn is set to drill a fourth well—SNE-4, 5 km southeast of the SNE-1 discovery well offshore Senegal—after having exploration and appraisal success with its latest evaluation programme. While targeting the Bellatrix exploration prospect and appraising the northern extent of the SNE (33/1) Field discovered in 2014, the BEL-1 well encountered two good quality gas-bearing sand reservoirs of a combined net thickness of 8 m between the Bellatrix main objective and deeper SNE appraisal objective, Cairn said in a news release. The exploration results confirmed the presence of shallower regionally extensive reservoirs also encountered in the SNE-3 well more than 9 km away. These well results, along with the latest 3-D seismic acquired in fourth-quarter 2015, will be incorporated into blockwide remapping to look at possible new plays and downdip oil potentially associated with the shallower reservoirs.

PGS said its latest GeoStreamer survey is providing high-resolution coverage of North Sea plays relevant for the 7th Danish Licensing Round. Initial data volumes will be available in May and August 2016. The Danish part of the North Sea is a mature area with a well-developed infrastructure and continued exploration potential. The prefunded multiclient acquisition extends dual-sensor coverage to 3,450 sq km in this sector. Coverage includes parts of the Danish Central Graben, Tail End Graben, Coffee Soil Fault and a section of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High.

Mexico’s oil regulator voted on April 14 to improve the terms for its first deepwater auction in December. Commissioners of the regulator, the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), voted unanimously to allow companies not involved in the day-to-day operations of a deepwater oil field to hold a larger stake than the project operator. The previous rule required that the operator hold the largest stake. The CNH is set to auction 10 potentially oil-rich deepwater blocks on Dec. 5. Four of the 10 blocks up for grabs straddle the maritime border with the U.S. in the Perdido Fold Belt. The remaining blocks are located in the Salina Basin along the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

Statoil together with operator Repsol Sinopec and partner Petrobras has completed the Gavea A1 well in the ultradeep presalt Block BM-C-33 in the Campos Basin in Brazil. The well encountered a hydrocarbon column of 175 m in a good-quality reservoir of silicified carbonates of the Macabu Formation. The well reached a total depth of 6,230 m and was successfully tested producing about 0.45 MMcm/d of gas and 4 Mbbl/d of oil. This is the fourth appraisal well in the licence, which comprises the Seat, Gavea and Pão de Açucar discoveries. In 2013 to 2015 the consortium drilled and tested the Seat-2, PdA-A1 and PdA-A2 appraisal wells. With Gavea A1 the consortium has finalised the appraisal activities in BM-C-33 and will now evaluate the subsurface data and assess development concepts.

Offshore