Wintershall makes small oil find in course of drilling North Sea wells

Sept. 16, 2016
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said Wintershall Norge AS had a “minor” oil discovery in the course of recently drilling four wells in the North Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said Wintershall Norge AS had a “minor” oil discovery in the course of recently drilling four wells in the North Sea.

Dolphin Drilling Ltd.’s Borgland Dolphin semisubmersible rig drilled all four wells southeast of Vega field in 373 m of water. The wells were not formation-tested, but extensive data and samples were collected.

Wintershall said potential development options include tie-ins to existing fields.

NPD said well 35/11-20 A encountered a total oil column of 33 m in Heather formation sandstone, of which 19 m were of good reservoir quality. Due to technical issues, it was not possible to reach the Brent group and Cook formation.

Well 35/11-20 B encountered a total oil column of 46 m in Heather formation sandstone, of which 29 m were of moderate reservoir quality. A total oil column of 19 m was encountered in the Tarbert formation in the Brent group, of which 10 m were of moderate reservoir quality. It was terminated in the Statfjord group in the Early Jurassic.

The 35/11-19 S had to be abandoned due to technical issues. The 35/11-20 S was drilled 50 m southwest and encountered an 8-m oil column in Heather sandstone with poor reservoir quality.

NPD said they were the second, third, fourth, and fifth exploration wells in PL 248 F.

According to NPD figures on the drilling program, the 35/11-20 B had the longest measured depth below the sea surface at 5,083 m, and the longest vertical depth at 4,055 m.