Project Profile
Location: 202km offshore Nuuk
Water Depth: 909m
In 2011, Cairn Energy drilled the AT7-1 well at Atammik in 909 m of water, some 202 km offshore from Nuk. The well encountered a 113m gross interval with 53m of net reservoir quality sands of Cretaceous age, although the lithology of the highly permeable zone of losses remains unknown. Severe mud losses and poor hole conditions hampered the full evaluation of this interval which was thought to be of potential interest because of oil and gas shows.
An MDT programme recovered fluid samples to surface; those samples revealed only mud filtrate and failed to establish hydrocarbons. A set of sealed MDT samples have been sent to laboratories in the United Kingdom for further analysis, together with samples of the gases recovered from gas influx events during operations. The MDT interpretation found that AT-7 was water-filled, though Cairn requested further evaluation of hydrocarbon shows in the vicinity.
Revised stratigraphic interpretation following the LF7-1 and AT7-1 wells, plus soil and seismic surveys, suggested Atammik may share geology in the Upper Cretaceous similar to the Qulliq-1 well drilled by Statoil in 2000. Cairn Energy paid a US$27,000 licensing fee to operate Atammik during the 2015 financial year.