French integrated oil and gas company, Total S.A. has recently made a significant gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect, located in the North Sea off coast of the Shetland islands, UK. As per sources, the preliminary tests done on the new gas discovery has confirmed superior reservoir quality, permeability and good yield deliverability, while recoverable resources are predicted to be of approximately one trillion cubic feet (1 tcf).
According to an official press release by Total, Arnaud Breuillac, the President of Exploration & Production division said that Glendronach is a significant discovery for their company that enables access to additional gas resources in one of its core areas, and further validates Total’s exploration strategy. Located on an emerging play of the resourceful West of Shetland area, the discovery can be quickly commercialized at a low cost by leveraging existing Laggan-Tormore infrastructure, Breuillac added.
Commenting on the details the company added that the well was drilled to a final depth of 4,312 meters when eventually a gas column of about 42 meters of net pay in a high-grade Lower Cretaceous reservoir was encountered.
For the record, Total has been present in the UK for more than 50 years and is one of the country’s leading O&G operators, with equity production reported to be of about 171,000 boe/d in the first half of 2018. Total’s production in the UK comes mainly from the firm’s operational fields located offshore in 3 major zones, the Elgin/Franklin zone in the Central North Sea, the Alwyn/Dunbar zone in the Northern North Sea, and the Laggan-Tormore center in the West of Shetland zone, as well as from Total’s recently acquired Maersk Oil assets. In addition, Total also operates UK’s Culzean gas field which is scheduled to start-up in 2019, located in the North Sea, with 49.99% working interest, cite sources.
As per trusted sources, Total E&P UK has a 60% stake in the Glendronach discovery, while SSE E&P UK Limited and Ineos E&P UK Limited each hold about 20% stakes in the Glendronach prospect.
