A MAJOR North Sea gas discovery has been described as one of the biggest for 11 years.
It is estimated that there are close to 250 million barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable resources at the Glengorm prospect, east of Aberdeen.
And Scotland's energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said it "highlights the significant potential for oil and gas which still exists beneath Scotland's waters".
Total and Chinese oil company CNOOC found 37 metres of net gas and condensate in a well drilled to a final depth of 5,056 metres.
Further drilling and testing will be carried out to assess resources and the productivity of the reservoir.
READ MORE: Edinburgh oil firm highlights profitability of North Sea production
Oil and Gas Authority chief executive Andy Samuel said: “This is very exciting news; Glengorm was first mapped as a prospect around 20 years ago and it is great to see Cnooc taking up the exploration opportunity and completing a difficult high-pressure, high-temperature exploration well.
“Initial results show that Glengorm could be one of the biggest finds in the UKCS (UK Continental Shelf) in recent years, possibly the biggest since the Culzean gas field was discovered eleven years ago.”
“This underlines the considerable potential of the UKCS. Our official estimate is that there still remains between 10 and 20 billion barrels plus to be recovered, so there is every chance of yet more significant finds, provided industry can increase exploration drilling and capitalise on the real value to be had here in the UK.”
The Glengorm exploration well is close to installations operated by Total, including the Elgin-Franklin platform and the Culzean project, which will achieve first gas this year.
It comes after Total announced a major gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect on the west of Shetland in September last year.
But environmental campaigners said the discovery was bad news for the climate and called for a transition away from fossil fuel development.
READ MORE: North Sea decommissioning 'could cost taxpayers £24 billion'
Caroline Rance, Friends of the Earth Scotland climate campaigner, said: "We've known for years that we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground if we're to tackle climate change.
"But just months after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's stark warning on the climate crisis, it's clear that big oil and gas companies still aren't listening.
"It's a disgrace that oil and gas exploration is still going ahead in the seas off Scotland."
Kevin McLachlan, senior vice president exploration at Total, said: "Following the recent Glendronach discovery, west of Shetland in the UK, Glengorm is another great success for Total in the North Sea, with results at the top end of expectations and a high condensate yield in addition to the gas.
"Our strong position in the region will enable us to leverage existing infrastructures nearby and optimise the development of this discovery.
"Glengorm is an achievement that demonstrates our capacity to create value in a mature environment thanks to our in-depth understanding of the basin."
Total holds a 25% working interest in the Glengorm discovery, alongside CNOOC Petroleum Europe Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited (50%, operator) and Euroil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edison E&P SpA (25%).
Mr Whitehouse added: "Scotland's offshore oil and gas industry has an important role to play with up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent remaining under the North Sea and in the wider basin and discoveries such as this help to support security of supply as we make the transition to a low carbon energy system.
"The Programme for Government reinforces our commitment to the sector, recognising both the significant opportunities remaining and our continued support of Maximising Economic Recovery from the North Sea.
"We will continue to make the case to the UK Government to bring forward appropriate measures to increase exploration activity and attract fresh investment."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel