Statoil ASA and its partners in PL 348/348B have made an oil discovery 15 km northeast of Njord field in the Norwegian Sea’s Snilehorn prospect.
The volume of the discovery ranges 55-100 million bbl of recoverable high-quality light oil.
Exploration well 6407/8-6 and sidetrack 6407/8-6A, which was drilled by the Songa Trym drilling rig, have proved several oil columns in Jurassic-aged formations. The main wellbore also has proved oil at a deeper level in reservoir rocks of Triassic age, possibly Grey Beds formation.
“A most likely future development of the Snilehorn discovery will be via the Hyme production system to Njord, or as a direct tie-in to the Njord platform,” commented Arve Rennemo, vice-president and asset owner of Njord.
Statoil said the Snilehorn well results have provided new information about the Halten Bank area in the Norwegian Sea’s shallow water.
“This is probably the first time hydrocarbons have been proven in Grey Beds formation in this part of the Norwegian Sea,” said Gro G. Haatvedt, Statoil senior vice-president for exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf. “This will be confirmed by further analyses of the data and may imply further upside potential in this area.”
The company has now made three near-field discoveries in the Norwegian Sea in as many months—Njord, Norne, and Asgard—proving 86-166 million boe total recoverable.
In August, Statoil and partners discovered gas-condensate in Smorbukk North in the Asgard area. The company said the discovery’s preliminary reserves volume is 25-47 million boe recoverable (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2013). The following month, it discovered oil in Svale North in the Norne area, with a possible 6-19 million bbl recoverable oil (OGJ Online, Sept. 16, 2013).
Exploration wells 6407/8-6 and 6407/8-6A are in the Norwegian Sea’s PL348/348B. Statoil is operator with 35% interest, with partners GDF Suez E&P Norge AS 20%, E.On E&P Norge AS 17.5%, Core Energy AS 17.5%, Faroe Petroleum Norge AS 7.5%, and VNG Norge AS 2.5%.
