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Figure 5 Figure 6

Finally, Figure 5 shows the ? eld size distribution in the deepwater and ultra-deepwater of the US Gulf of Mexico. Thirty-ninie ? elds of less than 10mmboe have been sanctioned at these water depths. This seems a far cry from the North Sea where 10mm- boe has historically been mooted as a lower limit for materiality and eco- nomic development. Though such ? elds have been developed in the

North Sea and continue to be consid- ered for development, there are cer- tainly lessons to be learnt when deep- water challenges can be overcome to develop economic investments, com- pared to the generally much shallower

North Sea equivalents.

The costs associated with deepwater drilling and increased capital for deep- water infrastructure and deployment has clearly not hindered signi? cant numbers of projects beyond the conti- nental shelf in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Conclusions

There is huge potential in unsanc- tioned discoveries in the UK and globally. TROVE is used to unlock stranded resources by conducting rapid screening analyses and evidence-based strategic planning at a portfolio scale.

License holders and the supply chain unlock value through simpli? cation and shared standards driven by real data; in a collaborative process and achieving this through an auditable da- tabase of ? eld, discovery and prospect data feeding tools to analyze remaining reserves at existing UKCS hubs.

The Author

Mike Cooper is Managing Director of Aberdeen consultancy 1st Subsurface specializing in technical subsurface and infra- structure analogue databases. Mike was formerly Exploration & Subsurface Manager for several companies including Lundin,

Centrica, EnQuest and Kerr-McGee. Mike is acting CEO of Arenite

Petroleum Limited and a former director of PESGB, during which he founded the Devex & jointly founded the Prospex conferences.

Mike graduated 40 years ago from Leeds & Newcastle University with degrees in Geology (BSc) & Petroleum Geochemistry (MSc).

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 21