Mr. John Browne, T.D., Minister of State in the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources said today that he is encouraged by the well results of Shell/Enterprise Energy Ireland Limited (Shell/ EEIL) and partners following the completion of their operations in the Rockall Basin.
Minister Browne said, "Both the Petroleum Affairs Division (PAD) of my Department and Shell/EEIL are continuing to analyse the well results and integrate them with other data from the area. It is encouraging that this well, only the second to be drilled in the Irish sector of the Rockall Basin, proved the presence of hydrocarbons in the area."
The well is situated in Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 2/94 in the Rockall Basin some 125km off the Donegal coast. The well was re-entered on 11 May 2003 using the drilling unit 'Jack Bates' and deepened by sidetrack from the 2002 total depth of 4146m measured depth (MD) to 4471m MD. The well confirmed the existence of a substantial gas condensate column.
Further technical work on the prospect will be required before the size of the gas condensate accumulation and the possibility for any commercial development can be accurately assessed.
Minister Browne concluded, "The discovery of hydrocarbons in the area obviously has positive implications and hopefully augurs well for the prospectivity of the basin as a whole."
ENDS
Editors Note:
FEL 2/94 was awarded to the operator Shell/EEI (100%) in 1994 and part of its interest was subsequently sub-leased to Italian and Austrian exploration companies, ENI Ireland BV (40%) and OMV Aktiengesellschaft (10%), respectively.