This paper describes how fast track reservoir appraisal has been achieved in prospects to the West of Shetlands through an integrated and innovative programme of data acquisition. The approach addressed the key uncertainties in evaluating the prospect by using a combination of the logging, seismic and core techniques. These methods have resulted in significant cost and time savings by reducing core acquisition and minimising the need for Drill Stem Tests. Introduction Background. The West of Shetland province lies approximately 120km west of the Shetland Islands (Figure 1). Following discovery in 1992, a fast track development programme was undertaken in order for the province to sustain BP's maturing North Sea portfolio. The prospects are set in deep water (200–1000 metres) and are exposed to difficult met ocean conditions. Drilling costs typically constitute over 30% of the project budget and any reduction in well numbers and rig time resulting from an efficient reservoir appraisal would heavily impact the project economics. Consequently, the requirement for early oil delivery combined with the expensive drilling environment drove the development of a rapid reservoir appraisal programme. Reservoir Appraisal Traditional reservoir appraisal has taken a sequential approach to addressing the key uncertainties in reservoir prospectivity. As a result the appraisal of North Sea prospects has taken on average nine years from discovery to delivery of first oil. By using an integrated approach which has required the simultaneous planning of field development and infrastructure, it will have been possible for BP and partner Shell to reduce this time to 4 years and dramatically increase the profitability of the project. To assist the integrated approach, reservoir appraisal strategy had to be geared to constraining the most influential reservoir uncertainties as early as possible. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how this was achieved by a holistic and innovative programme of data acquisition. Key Uncertainties The Parametric Method provides a means of illustrating the influence of key uncertainties on reservoir prospectivity. Uncertain parameters are identified and their base, upside and downside cases estimated. P. 63