Shell finds gas in North Sea prospects

Wednesday, January 11 2023

Fossil energy – Pensacola Well

Shell hired Maersk Drilling, now part of Noble Corp., to provide the Maersk Resilient harsh-environment jack-up rig to carry out the drilling of the Pensacola well and seabed operations for the placing of this rig were slated to start towards the end of July.

At the end of October, plans were revealed to spud this well in mid-November 2022.

The drilling operations at this gas prospect started in November 2022.

As a reminder, after a positive well investment decision for this prospect in March 2022, the two payers focused on well planning activities and made an announcement in April 2022, stating that the drilling of this prospect was scheduled to begin towards the end of 3Q 2022.

Based on Deltic Energy’s update on Wednesday, Shell has reported that gas has been encountered in the reservoir and has recommended to the Joint Venture (JV) that a full well testing programme be undertaken.

Located to the northwest of the Breagh gas field in the Southern North Sea, Pensacola is a Zechstein Reef prospect and was previously ranked as “one of the highest impact exploration targets to be drilled in the gas basin in recent years.”