Brasse Prospect Development, North Sea

The Brasse prospect lies in blocks 30 / 9 and 31 / 7 of the production licence (PL) 740 of the Norwegian North Sea, in 118m-deep waters.

Faroe Petroleum is the operator of the field and currently owns 50% stake, while Point Resources holds the remaining 50%.

The operator plans to further appraise the field with the drilling of an appraisal well in mid-2017.

The development partners were awarded additional exploration licenses in the production license, including the Brasse extension on the eastern side of the Brage field in January 2017.

Faroe plans to drill a potential well in the extension either later this year or early in 2018.

Discovery of the Brasse prospect

Brasse was discovered during the drilling of the 31 / 7-1 well in May 2016.

The well was drilled to a depth of 2,780m by the Transocean Arctic rig, and encountered an 18m gas-bearing and 21m oil-bearing Jurassic sandstone reservoir of good quality.

Fluid sampling was performed to confirm the presence of oil and gas.

Brasse prospect geology and reserves

Brasse discovery is part of the Upper Jurassic Sognefjord formation near the Brage Field.

The prospect is estimated to contain recoverable hydrocarbons of 28-54 million barrels of oil, as well as 89-158 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas.

Appraisal drilling at Brasse prospect

A side-track of the discovery well was drilled in July 2016 to appraise the south-eastern part of the Brasse reservoir.

The side-track well was drilled to a depth of 2,530m by the Transocean Arctic rig, and encountered a 25m oil column and a 6m gas column in good quality Jurassic reservoir sandstones similar to those of the discovery well.

The main purpose of drilling the side-track was to delineate the discovery area, reduce uncertainty regarding the reserves, and gain additional information to develop the project.

The field’s second planned appraisal well will provide additional information required for the development of the project.

Faroe has signed a contract with Odfjell Drilling for its Deepsea Bergen semi-submersible drilling rig to carry out the drilling operations.

Semi-submersible drilling rigs used at Brasse

Transocean Arctic is a harsh environment mid-water drilling rig, with a displacement of 36,200mt. The rig has a maximum drilling depth of 25,000ft and maximum water depth of 1,659ft.

It is equipped with a dynamic derrick measuring 167ftx39ftx39ft, and features a hookload capacity of 1.3Mlbs.

Deepsea Bergen is a self-propelled semi-submersible unit with an operational water depth of up to 1,500ft. It features a single 650t derrick and three 5,000psi mud pumps.

Brasse prospect development details

Faroe is conducting feasibility studies on the development of the project along with the appraisal activities.

Drilling of the appraisal well later in 2017 will help move the prospect towards development.

The Brasse discovery is located close to the Brage field platform, where Faroe currently holds 14.3% interest.

The Oseberg Sør field platform, and the Oseberg field platform, are also located close to the prospect.

Close proximity of the existing infrastructure will help in the development of Brasse through tie-back, which will also ultimately lower the cost of the development.

Contractors involved

Well Management company AGR provided well completion, logistics and cost management support services for drilling of the Brasse side-track well.