Statoil says it has discovered light, high-quality oil in the Flemish Pass basin 500 kilometres northeast of St. John’s, raising hopes for an as-yet-untapped part of the Newfoundland offshore.
“It is positive that we have found oil in this second major structure in the Flemish area,” Geir Richardsen, Statoil’s vice-president of exploration, told CBC News.
“It is something that confirms the ideas we’ve had.”
‘New basins with oil are hard to come by … So it’s a great day.’—Statoil’s Geir Richardsen
In 2009, Statoil found oil at Mizzen, 10 kilometres from the Harpoon well that produced the positive results announced Wednesday.
Last year, Statoil confirmed that Mizzen contained between 100 million and 200 million barrels of recoverable oil.
“We found new oil in a new structure in the same basin as Mizzen,” Richardsen said. “That’s a good result for us.”
The company won’t provide any details on the volume of oil found at Harpoon.
But Richardsen said it is lighter, and better quality, than what was discovered at Mizzen. That’s important, because it is easier to produce.
Possibility of opening new frontier
To date, all producing fields in the Newfoundland offshore are located in the shallow-water Jeanne d’Arc basin.
The deeper-water Flemish Pass is a possible new frontier for the East Coast industry.
Statoil used the West Aquarius deepwater drilling rig for exploration activities at its Harpoon prospect. (CNW Group/Statoil Canada Limited)“New basins with oil are hard to come by,” Richardsen said. “Jeanne d’Arc has been the focus of most exploration wells. That’s where the production is. That’s where our production is. So new areas, [such] as this Flemish area, which has proved to contain oil, is important, for us in Canada and globally. So it’s a great day.”
Richardsen said the Harpoon find is a step in the right direction towards Statoil’s long-held goal of becoming a producing operator off Newfoundland.
“For us, the East Coast is an important place,” he said.
Statoil said the Harpoon discovery was drilled by the semi-submersible rig West Aquarius, in approximately 1,100 metres of water.
The Norwegian company plans a three-well exploration program on Canada’s East Coast for 2013.
Statoil is currently drilling its Federation prospect in the Jeanne d’Arc basin. It will then return to the Flemish Pass region to drill the Bay du Nord prospect, located southwest of the Harpoon and Mizzen discoveries.
Statoil is the operator of Harpoon and Mizzen, with a 65 per cent interest. Husky Energy holds the other 35 per cent.
Others on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 12:19 am
St Johns is far East of Canadian mainland and its 500 km from St Johns.
So Oil companies have to go that far to fetch Oil. You can imagine the effort and the energy taken for this.
Soon there will be Oil drilling in all the World’s Oceans & Seas.
poaecdotcom on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 12:23 am
200 million barrels < 3 days global consumption.
The fact this is news is more compelling than most charts as to where we are
DC on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 12:46 am
Not just 3 days, its how it takes to extract it. Those 3 days, will take better part of a decade to pump out of there. Good news indeed…
socrates1fan on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 3:34 am
A couple days worth of fuel?..
Poaecdotcom- I have to agree. The fact that such a tiny amount of fuel is on the news as a great find is very concerning.
BillT on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 3:55 am
Odds are good that by the time everything is in place to pump, the age of oil will be over. It takes a working financial system to do anything on that scale and the world’s financial system is on the verge of collapse. When it resets, many things will be gone and many more no longer priority.
Plantagenet on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 4:01 am
The whole idea that this oil will be used up in three days is silly. In actuality this oil field will produce for decades.
GregT on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 2:29 pm
Good news for Statoil. Hardly newsworthy at all for global oil production. More bad news for the future of mankind on this planet.
Arthur on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 2:44 pm
Newfoundoil
Arthur on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 2:52 pm
Statoil probably made more impact with their nano-thingy than with this peanut. The nano stunt could increase oilwell extraction from 50% to 60%. That’s 20% on one trillion barrel already extracted = 200 billion barrel, or THOUSAND times as many oil as this Newfoundland non-event or 3000 days extra current consumption.
Shale + nano = 20 years extra bonus years. I am afraid Richard Heinberg has to postpone his told-you-so moment until he is in the nursing home.
Bring in the champagne… and the sun tan lotion ((
http://www.forskningsradet.no/en/Newsarticle/Nanoparticles_helping_to_recover_more_oil/1253987298870/p1177315753918
Arthur on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 2:58 pm
And then there is methan hydrates.
The term peakoil starts to become outdated, or at least premature. Possibly we need a new deaster to worry about.
Does Greg have a blog? 😉
poaecdotcom on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 3:12 pm
EROEI fellas…..
Shale, Nano, methane, tar sands etc 12 for our current complexity. Even is total production does not fall any time soon the net energy will as new methods replacing the 50+ eroei of Ghawar etc.
Therefore we have a contracting REAL economy. (2nd law of therm)
The money system , debt based fiat, has a little problem with contraction…..
I would not ridicule Heinberg just yet.
poaecdotcom on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 3:14 pm
I’ll try again:
EROEI fellas…..
Shale, Nano, methane, tar sands etc less than 10:1 BUT we need 12:1 for our current complexity.
Even if total production does not fall any time soon the net energy will as new methods replacing the 50+ eroei of Ghawar etc.
Therefore we have a contracting REAL economy. (2nd law of therm)
The money system , debt based fiat, has a little problem with contraction…..
I would not ridicule Heinberg just yet.
BillT on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 3:31 pm
~200,000,000 barrels divided by 20+ years = ~250,000 bbls/day or the amount used by The US military. That is, IF the wells ever happen and IF the market remains for 20 years. I would not bet any money on all of it being recovered.
BTW: The correct term is: ‘Recover’, not ‘Produce’
Produce: to cause to have existence or to happen (MW) (Oil already exists.)
Recover: to obtain from an ore, a waste product, or a by-product (MW) (Oil is obtained from under the ground.)
Arthur on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 7:03 pm
poaecdotcom, I do not ridicule Heinberg at all, and peakoil is going to happen in the future, or rather is happening now, but the kicking the can potential is far greater than we previously anticipated. But it is likely that energy prices from fossil will remain high and will get higher as time passes by and the old days of standard 2% growth per year are likely over for good. The good news: we probably have more time to realise a transition. The potentially bad news is: will the environment endure this extra fossil time?
socrates1fan on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 8:25 pm
Arthur, the mere presence of a supply does not mitigate nor postpone the severity of peak oil. All of this unconventional oil exploration was predicted as a SIGN of peak oil. We are only sucking bits of oil out of sand and rocks because we’ve peaked in our conventional supply. The supply that made our economic (and population) explosion possible. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding you.
The unconventional oil that is being pumped out (oil with VERY poor return investment, even with “new” technology) should be used to transition us into a post-petroleum age. Unfortunately it seems that man would rather continue the way he has been living. This is why I don’t think we are going to transition in time to avoid serious economic and social consequences.
Simon on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 9:38 pm
BillT said:
“~200,000,000 barrels divided by 20+ years = ~250,000 bbls/day or the amount used by The US military.”
It is far less than that. 200 million barrels divided by 20 years is 10 million barrels a year, divided by 365 is 27,400 barrels a day. You are off by a factor of 10. Which only further proves your point of course – this big new find is just a drop in the bucket.
Arthur on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 9:52 pm
socrates1fan, the shale and nano stuff (and methane hydrates) were not really included in the peak oil considerations of a few years ago. There was some dissing talk about tar sands, but that was it.
Nobody doubts peak conventional oil anymore, but must of us equated that insight with the end of the oil age. Now, since ca. 2010 it turns out there is still more life in the old oil cat than previously anticipated.
socrates1fan on Thu, 20th Jun 2013 10:50 pm
Arthur- I’ll agree that there is still life in the old oil cat. I’m not a doomer, but I do think this is a good warning that as a nation we should be preparing for oil shortages.
Regardless of these finds, I don’t think our current lifestyles of suburbia (in their current form), interstates, and high consumption will last much longer.
BillT on Fri, 21st Jun 2013 3:55 am
Sorry, I added a zero somewhere. Maybe I was using the government’s energy calculator? ^_^