Shortly before Christmas, Bahamas Petroleum Co. plc (LON: BPC) revealed that it had spudded a well 10-plus years in the making off The Bahamas with Stena Drillings IceMAX drillship.

BPC reported Monday that drilling has concluded at the Perseverance #1 well after encountering non-commercial volumes of oil. The well, drilled to approximately 12,795 feet (3,900 meters), will now be permanently plugged and abandoned, the company noted in a written statement.

I am proud to say that after many years of diligent effort we did what we said we would do: BPC drilled the Perseverance #1 well safely and without incident, testing for the presence of hydrocarbons in the Southern Seas of The Bahamas, remarked Simon Potter, BPCs CEO. This was the very specific objective of the well not a scientific or geologic experiment, but to seek hydrocarbons in commercial quantities.

At a technical level, Perseverance #1 did validate the existence of oil, seal, and reservoir and verify the existence of a working Lower Cretaceous petroleum system and sequences of reservoir quality, Potter stated.

Perseverance #1 is the first exploration well in The Bahamas for decades, and the data gathered from this well will prove invaluable in providing a modern analysis as to the regional potential of the petroleum system, which, in our view, reduces technical risk for any future/further exploration in this new frontier province, said Potter.

BPC pointed out that it will review technical data and drilling results from Perseverance #1, presenting the findings to the Bahamas government to comply with license obligations. The review will also consider renewing farm-in discussions and future drilling within its license areas, the firm added.

Beyond The Bahamas, BPC is also focusing on its planned 2021 work program in Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname as well as prospect/lead maturation potential in Uruguay from reprocessed seismic data, the company noted.

Elsewhere in the portfolio, in Trinidad we have producing oil fields and, in combination with assets in Suriname, we have upcoming drilling programs scheduled in 2021, such that the near-term operational activity focus will now shift toward those activities, commented Potter. All of us at BPC are resolute in support of the diversification strategy embarked on during 2020, and we remain intent on delivering the potential that is latent across the entire portfolio.

To contact the author, email mveazey@rigzone.com.

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BPC Looks Beyond The Bahamas for 2021 - Rigzone News