The Capercaillie and Achmelvich Licences (illustration: BP)

BP has announced two new exploration discoveries in the North Sea. The discoveries are Capercaillie, in Block 29/4e in the Central North Sea, and Achmelvich, in Block 206/9b west of Shetland. BP is 100% owner of Capercaillie and the Achmelvich well partnership comprises BP (operator, 52.6%), Shell (28%) and Chevron (19.4%).

Both wells were drilled by the Paul B Loyd Junior rig in Summer 2017.

The Capercaillie well was drilled to a total depth of 3,750 metres and encountered light oil and gas-condensate in Paleocene and Cretaceous-age reservoirs. The well data is currently under evaluation. Options are expected to be considered for a possible tie-back development to existing infrastructure.
The Achmelvich well was drilled to a total depth of 2,395 metres and encountered oil in Mesozoic-age reservoirs. Evaluation and interpretation of the well results is ongoing to assess future options.

Mark Thomas, BP North Sea Regional President says, “These are exciting times for BP in the North Sea as we lay the foundations of a refreshed and revitalised business that we expect to double production to 200,000 barrels a day by 2020 and keep producing beyond 2050.”

“We are hopeful that Capercaillie and Achmelvich may lead to further additions to our North Sea business, sitting alongside major developments like Quad 204, which came onstream in 2017, Clair Ridge, due to come into production this year, and the non-operated Culzean field, expected to start-up in 2019,” adds Thomas.

Tags: BP, Chevron, Shell