Cairn makes new discovery offshore Greenland

Cairn Energy struck both gas and oil with the Alpha-1S1 well drilled in the Sigguk Block about 175 km offshore Disko Island, west Greenland. The Alpha-1S1 well was drilled to 4,358 m in volcanic sections with the drillship Stena Forth; the well is now being deepened. The company reported gas shows in silty and volcanic sections over several hundreds of meters and oil has been observed intermittently over a 400-m section in the volcanic and volcano-clastic intervals of the well.

Cairn has plugged and abandoned its T8-1 well, which did not encounter hydrocarbons of a commercial volume. The well costs of $84.2 million excluding demobilization costs have been written off. The T4-1 exploration well, third in the Cairn campaign, is drilling ahead at 1,900 m and is located 100 km north of the Alpha well site and T8 site.