Eastern Mediterranean Drilling Campaign Could Include Five Wells

A unit of Energean plc (LSE: ENOG) has signed a contract with Stena Drilling Limited for its 2022-2023 drilling program offshore Israel, Energean reported Monday.

Energean Israel Limited’s contract for the Stena Icemax drillship includes three firm wells and two optional wells and will likely target recoverable resources of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), Energean noted in a written statement.

“We are delighted to working with Stena again, and this five-well program follows the three-well development drilling program and 243-million-boe Karish North discovery, all successfully executed with Stena over 2019 and 2020,” commented Energean CEO Mathios Rigas.

Energean stated that it expects to drill all three firm wells in 2022, with the first spudding in the first quarter of next year. The operator noted the firm wells include:

• The Karish North development well, with a scope including re-entry, sidetracking, and completion of the previously drilled Karish North wells and completion as a producer to commercialize 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas and 31 million barrels of liquids (2P reserves; 243 million boe total; first gas projected for the second half of 2023
• The Karish Main-04 appraisal well that will likely target further prospective volumes within the Karish Main Block, including the potential oil rim identified earlier with 166 million boe total estimated unrisked recoverable volumes (Degolyer and MacNaughton estimate excluding D-sand volumes)
• The Athena exploration well in Block 12, located between the Karish and Tanin leases, targeting estimated unrisked recoverable resource volumes of 400 billion cubic feet of gas and 2 million barrels of liquids with a 70% geological chance of success.

“Our five-well growth program, offshore Israel, commencing 1Q 2022, has the potential to double Energean plc’s reserve base with resource volumes that can be quickly, economically, and safely monetized,” remarked Rigas. “Combined with first gas from our flagship Karish gas development project in mid-2022, the next 12 months are set to be truly transformational for Energean.”

Energean reported this past January that it had taken a final investment decision on the Karish North development. The following month TechnipFMC (NYSE: FTI) (PARIS: FTI) revealed that it had secured a letter of award for subsea equipment for the project.

To contact the author, email mveazey@rigzone.com.