1Derrick Research: UK North Sea Exploration Slows; Drilling Inventories at Record High

SINGAPORE & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--1Derrick, the Singapore and London based provider of integrated energy news, research and databases, has released its latest data on UK North Sea Exploration & Appraisal (E&A) activity for the period Q4-2013 (Mid-Aug to Mid-Nov).

The 1Derrick research shows that drilling commenced at 8 wells during the fourth quarter, up on 5 wells during Q3-2013. In Q4-2013, 5 E&A wells were completed and 8 wells - operated by Total, ConocoPhillips, Centrica, TAQA, EnQuest, Dana and BP - were in progress. However, overall E&A drilling in 2013 was slow, with just 27 wells spud and 32 wells completed.

Table: E&A wells by spud year
Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013*
Wildcat	23	21	14	24	26	33	28	32	41	21	27	14	20	15
Appraisal	22	16	18	10	22	22	24	42	35	19	21	16	21	12
Total	45	37	32	34	48	55	52	74	76	40	48	30	41	27
* 2013 YTD
Source: 1Derrick

According to Rajeev Singh, Senior Analyst, 1Derrick, “Drilling inventory is high… there are 97 ready to drill licenses awaiting a rig, and 244 licenses with Drill or Drop or Contingent decisions pending. Positive exploration results during 2013 included E.ON’s Tolmount, ConocoPhillips’ Lacewing, Fairfield’s Darwin and DONG’s Cragganmore.”

Mangesh Hirve, Director, Derrick Petroleum Services, said: “UK E&A drilling inventory includes 97 ready to drill licenses, i.e. firm, planned and decided, in which we expect 103 wells will be drilled. GDF, Nexen, Shell, Premier, Centrica, Total, Maersk and EnQuest will operate more than 50% of these 103 E&A wells.”

The 103 E&A wells include:

• 62 in CNS / Moray Firth: Premier, with 7 operated wells to be drilled, leads the activity, followed by Nexen and Shell at 6 each, and GDF and Maersk at 5 each. Other significant operators included EnQuest, Total and ConocoPhillips. Quad 30 is expected to see highest activity with 23 wells, dominated by Shell and Total, followed by Quad 21 at 22 dominated by GDF, Premier and EnQuest.
• 17 in SNS: GDF with 5, Centrica with 4 and RWE with 3 wells are expected to contribute to E&A activity. Quads 47 and 43 are expected to have the highest activity at 6 and 5 wells respectively, dominated by GDF.
• 10 in NNS, 14 in WoS and other areas: Low activity with 2 wells each by TAQA in Quad 211, Total in Quad 3, BP in Quad 205 and Centrica in Quad 110.

1Derrick/Derrick Petroleum Services is an independent oil and gas research firm with offices in London, Singapore and Bangalore. Derrick provides functional, comprehensive and cost-effective oil and gas sector M&A Databases and Global Business Development reports.