Desire Petroleum spuds exploration well off the Falkland Islands

The semisubmersible drilling rig the Ocean Guardian arrived in waters off the Falkland Islands on 19 February 2010 to pick up an exploration effort abandoned after six wells were drilled in 1998.

The Falkland Islands are a self-governing UK Overseas Territory on the edge of Argentina’s continental shelf, approximately 480 km from the South American mainland and 1100 km from Antarctica.

High hopes
If the claims made by the region’s supporters are to be believed, the basins off the islands are replete with billions of barrels of recoverable oil and multi-trillion ft³ of gas prospects. According to Desire Petroleum, the North Falkland Basin alone has recoverable oil potential in excess of 3.5 billions bbls of oil and over 9 trillion ft³ of gas.

Well spudded
The Liz 14 /19-A exploration well was spudded on 22 February 2010 and is being drilled to an estimated target depth of approximately 3500 m. Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 30 days and a further announcement will be made once drilling is completed.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/03032010/desire_petroleum_spuds_exploration_well_off_the_falkland_islands/