By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Aug. 28 -- Statoil AS said Tuesday it has a discovery at an exploration and appraisal well on the Gudrun structure in the Sleipner area of the North Sea.
Well 15/3-7 was drilled in the eastern section of the structure. Hydrocarbons were encountered in Middle and Upper Jurassic sands. The well was not production tested, but extensive information was collected from core samples.
Kjersti Seim, acting Statoil exploration manager for the area, said, "The results of the drilling will now be evaluated in terms of the potential reserves in Gudrun and in the rest of Block 15/3."
Wildcats drilled in 1975 and 1979 at Gudrun found oil, gas, and condensate. Statoil said the reservoir turned out to be complicated, with high pressure and high temperature, and the reserves were not sufficiently quantified.
Well 15/3-7 was a project between BP PLC, the operator of production license 187, and Statoil, the operator of production license 025. Statoil was operator for the drilling.
Statoil has 46.8% of license 025 while BP has 25%, TotalFinaElf SA 18.2%, and Norsk Hydro AS 10%. BP has 25% of license 187, Statoil 65%, and Norsk Hydro 10%.
Meanwhile, Statoil said oil production from Gullfaks field in the North Sea is back to normal after 2 weeks of technical problems.
The A and B platforms resumed full output of 190,000 b/d over the weekend. They had been operating at reduced capacity since Aug. 6 after trials of a less-polluting chemical for desulfurization blocked pipes and tanks on the platforms (OGJ Online, Aug. 15, 2001).
Statoil said the processing equipment was cleaned and was functioning normally.
