Noble Energy, a U.S.-based independent oil company, is abandoning an exploration well offshore the Falkland Islands, citing disappointing results.
According to the company, the Humpback well offshore the Falkland Islands reached total depth and is being plugged and abandoned. Humpback was drilled in the Fitzroy sub-basin of the Southern Area License and encountered non-commercial quantities of crude oil and natural gas.
“Full well assessment and the integration of drilling results into the Company’s geologic models is ongoing to determine remaining exploration potential in the Southern Area License. The geologic play including Humpback is only one of a number of prospect play types in the Southern Area License,” said Noble in a statement on Wednesday.
The Eirik Raude semi-submersible drilling rig, which drilled the Humpback well, will be released to another operator before returning to Noble Energy to spud the Rhea prospect in late 2015 or early 2016.
Located in the Northern Area License offshore the Falkland Islands and approximately 265 miles from Humpback, Rhea is in a proven petroleum basin near existing oil discoveries.
According to Noble, Rhea is a Cretaceous-aged prospect with multiple reservoir targets and total estimated gross mean unrisked resources in excess of 250 million barrels of oil.