Wellesley is an oil and gas exploration and development company, based in Norway and backed by Blue Water Energy LLP, a leading private equity investor in the energy transition.

Since 2016, Wellesley has been one of the most active and successful explorers in Norway, which has led to the rapid growth of their development portfolio.

Wellesley’s successful exploration drilling has yielded a material, high quality development portfolio with favourable ESG characteristics. Wellesley’s developments are split between their two exploration themes of “Gas to Europe” and “Power From Shore Oil”.

First production from Wellesley’s portfolio is expected in 2027. Cashflow will then be recycled into the Atlantis and FANTA developments, which will help the portfolio achieve peak production around 74 kboe/d in 2029.

Five out of Wellesley’s six developments are operated by Equinor – the most experienced development operator in Norway. There remains significant near-field exploration upside associated with these developments, which will be tested through the drill-bit in the coming years.

DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO

Wellesley's portfolio reflects two gas discoveries with strong commercial potential: Atlantis and Osprey.

Atlantis
Atlantis is an HPHT gas/condensate field, discovered in 2020 that will be developed as a tieback to Kvitebjørn. The 30/2-5 S well discovered good quality Brent reservoir in a simple fault-bounded structure, filled with rich, high liquids content gas.

The field will be developed with three gas producers drilled from a central template. There are several follow-on exploration prospects on the PL878 licence which will be drilled in 2023/24 and which can be developed as part of the Atlantis project. Equinor operates both the development and the Kvitebjørn host infrastructure, ensuring sufficient processing capacity for all Atlantis production.

PL878 also contains the Canon discovery, which consists of gas/condensate in a Brent reservoir. Licence partners are working to commercialise Canon as part of the Atlantis development project.

Osprey
The Osprey discovery lies in the Norwegian Sea, 7km southwest of the Alve Nord field. Osprey comprises a small Cretaceous gas accumulation that can be drained with a single well. Operatorship of the PL159F licence was taken over by PGNiG in 2022. The licence partners will now work to develop Osprey as a tieback to Skarv, potentially in conjunction with the Alve Nord development.

EXPLORATION

Wellesley will drill 11 wells in the next 36 months alone, targeting an unrisked net resource of 214 mmboe.

The Company's’s exploration strategy is aligned with the core ESG strategic themes of “Gas to Europe” and “Power From Shore Oil”. Any discoveries in the “Power From Shore Oil” theme will be developed as part of the FANTA area development, together with Wellesley’s Grosbeak, Swisher, Røver Nord and Toppand discoveries.

Røver Sør

• Low risk appraisal target following Røver Nord discovery
• Middle Jurassic Brent / Oseberg structural trap
• Charged from the Røver Nord structure, likely to share the same spill point
• To be developed as part of FANTA area development

Carmen

• Middle to Lower Jurassic structural trap
• HPHT gas/condensate reservoir
• De-risked by recent Toppand and Røver Nord discoveries
• Close to both Kvitebjørn and FANTA area development infrastructure

Eggen

• Downfaulted Brent fault block
• Migration pathway from Røver Nord
• Oil/gas bearing reservoir

Litago

• Downthrown middle Jurassic structure
• Key risk is fault seal to the East
• High impact prospect with significant volumetric upside
• 90% located on PL923

Toppand East

• Low risk appraisal target following Toppand discovery
• Middle Jurassic Brent / Oseberg structural trap
• Charged from Toppand structure
• To be developed as part of FANTA area development

Harden

• Stratigraphic trap, derisked by Swisher and other area wells
• Upper Jurassic reservoir
• To be developed as part of FANTA area development
• 86% located on PL248C

Larven

• Downthrown Sognefjord structural/stratigraphic trap
• Hangingwall prospect adjacent to Troll field
• Key risk is migration
• 56% located on PL923

Minotaur

• Downthrown Brent appraisal target
• Adjacent to Atlantis discovery
• Development wells can be drilled from Atlantis subsea template
• Reservoir effectiveness and fault seal concept proven by Atlantis

Atlantis Statfjord

• Deep Statfjord target beneath Brent discovery
• Statfjord porosity and permeability preserved at depth in analogues
• Brent / Statfjord interformational seals observed in nearby discoveries
• Can be developed as part of Atlantis

Fossegrim

• Brent reservoir in downthrown fault block east of Atlantis
• Dependent on fault seal juxtaposed against Statfjord Fm
• Fault seal and reservoir proven by Atlantis discovery
• Development synergies with Atlantis
• Could be developed together with Canon discovery

Albus

• Late Triassic Lomvi HPHT reservoir
• Located in same fault block as abandoned Huldra field
• Huldra exploration wells proved sand in Lomvi but drilled outside of closure
• Similar structural setting to Corvus discovery, 15km to the south

MANAGEMENT

• Chris Elliott: CEO / Exploration Director
• Kari Langvik Østhus: Country Manager
• Olivier Hopkes: Chief Financial Officer
• Callum Smyth: Operations & HSE Manager
• Jan Tore Paulsen: Exploration Manager
• Richard Tiley: Business Development Manager

CONTACT

Wellesley Petroleum
Reidar Berges Gate 9
4013 Stavanger
Norway

Tel. +47 51 20 44 22

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