The UK Oil and Gas Authority is carrying out a HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) fields study in the Central North Sea (CNS).
The UK Oil and Gas Authority is carrying out a HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) fields study in the Central North Sea (CNS).
The study focuses on the Jurassic and Triassic stratigraphic intervals in the CNS with the aim of providing a regional understanding of overpressure distributions or pressure cells in the Central North Sea together with a supporting well pressure database.
This will support improved mapping of overpressure distributions for prospective plays, develop an understanding of the subsurface pressure regimes onto which the HPHT portfolio of leads and prospects can be mapped and distinguished from the NPNT (normal pressures and temperatures) portfolio, and provide a public dataset on which further research and analysis can be based without the barrier of high data costs and complex data licensing arrangements.
It is hoped that the study will also stimulate exploration activity around key producing infrastructure; support more accurate models for top seal integrity and column heights modelling, therefore reducing volumetric uncertainty; and provide a dataset that can be used to help realise the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Triassic-Jurassic reservoirs.
This study combines well pressure data with historic and published structural interpretations to generate a pressure cell map for the pre-Cretaceous strata.
‘Successful exploitation of new HPHT structures in the UKCS can play a major role in maximising economic recovery and extending the asset life of existing infrastructure,’ said the OGA. While HPHT conditions are recorded in a number of UKCS basins, by far the largest resource attributable to HPHT-producing fields, discoveries, and mature prospects lies within the Central Graben of the CNS.’
