Noble Energy said it is stopping work on an appraisal well off the Israeli coast because water started to flow outside the well casing to the sea floor.
The well, being drilled in the Leviathan prospect, had reached a depth of 14,993 feet before the problem was spotted.
The water does not appear to have hydrocarbons in it, the company said, and is coming from a sand layer that should not impact the target formation.
Noble Energy plans to cap the well and relocate the drilling rig to a nearby location, where it will resume the appraisal drilling program.
The problem Noble is experiencing is one that was of concern last summer during efforts to stop BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. In that case, engineers were worried applying pressure on the well to shut down the flow would lead to a casing rupture below the sea floor that would allow oil to flow around the outside of the casing, essentially scouring out the seabed around the wellhead. Stopping the flow of oil would have been much more difficult in such a situation.
The Leviathan prospect could significantly change the energy outlook for Israel, which relies heavily on oil imports. A U.S. Geological Survey study last year said the eastern Mediterranean’s Levant Basin could hold 1.7 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Noble is the Leviathan operator with a 39.66 percent working interest. Other partners are Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration with 22.67 percent each and Ratio Oil Exploration with the remaining 15 percent.
Are Noble’s pockets that deep? What is their target depth? At 15000 ft I would think they would already be there or they are trying to save face on a very expensive dry hole. How much, maybe 100 million I would think would be on the upper end.
Better to be safe than sorry.
The gas pressures involved once the target formation is hit will be significant.
Good risk management call Noble!