Statoil ASA has discovered 25-130 million bbl of oil in the Verbier sidetrack well in the outer Moray Firth on the UK Continental Shelf.
Jez Averty, senior vice-president, exploration, in Norway and the UK, said the oil was proven in “good quality sands with good reservoir properties, but significant work remains…to clarify recoverable volumes and to refine this range.”
The Verbier main wellbore encountered a water-filled sand and the sidetrack was drilled to assess the remaining potential up-dip, Statoil said.
Statoil operates Verbier with 70% ownership, which it purchased from Jersey Oil & Gas PLC and CEICO Exploration & Production (UK) Ltd. in 2016 (OGJ Online, Aug. 23, 2016). Jersey and CEICO maintain 18% and 12% interest in Verbier, respectively.
The P.2170 license includes Blocks 20/5b and 21/1d in the Buchan graben the Outer Moray Firth offshore northeast Scotland.
The Verbier discovery was one of three exploration wells Statoil kicked in July (OGJ Online, July 5, 2017). The Transocean Spitsbergen drilling rig has completed two additional wells, Mariner Segment 9 and Jock Scott.
Jenny Morris, Statoil’s vice-president, exploration, in the UK, described results from the two additional wells as “disappointing,” but said that Verbier’s results justified continued exploration efforts on the UKCS.
Mariner Segment 9 encountered two oil-filled sands in the Heimdal formation and a thin oil column in the deeper Maureen formation. The company acquired data to establish the extent of the Heimdal sand bodies and is considering potential tieback to the main Mariner field. Jock Scott was dry and did not encounter a reservoir section, Statoil said.
Contact Tayvis Dunnahoe at [email protected].
