Hydrocarbon Exploration in the Netherlands
‘Booming business in a mature gas province’
Poster 5 Prospex 2012 mjvg
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
POS & succes ratio (%) Number of exploration wells
Exploration wells: average POS and success ratio
Successful wells Dry holes Average POS Success ratio
15
12
9
6
3
0
EBN 2012
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
No. of exploration wells since 1962 1000
900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
Reserves in BCM
Creaming curves
Onshore Offshore 1970
1980
1990
2000 2010
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
EBN 2012
And still > 450 BCM Expectation in known exploration prospects
Statistics from 1st Jan 2011 - 1st Nov 2012
• > 12000 km2 seismic was acquired
• 23 exploration wells were drilled
• 10 exploration licenses were applied for
• 18 exploration licenses were awarded
Seismic and well data position
• Public studies, public seismic data and public well data can be purchased at TNO via www.nlog.nl (see separate poster)
• Regional NL well database offered by Schlumberger (RTE)
• Recent spec surveys in northern dutch offshore offered by TGS (long cable 2D, 2009-11) and Fugro (DEF 3D, 2011-12)
• Various vendors offer regional merge cubes of the public seismic data; PGS (SNS MegaSurvey) and Fugro (NL TerraCube)
• Various regional studies are available with consultancy companies
66 exploration wells with EBN participation were drilled in the NL in the period 2005 - now
High success ratio and… no sign of creaming exploration wells
Line from the 3D DEF survey (Fugro), across the Cleaverbank High towards the Elbow Spit High
