Wintershall group finds North Sea light oil off Norway

April 16, 2012
Wintershall Norge AS said it discovered light oil at a wildcat on its Skarfjell prospect in PL 418 in the North Sea offshore Norway.  

Wintershall Norge AS said it discovered light oil at a wildcat on its Skarfjell prospect in PL 418 in the North Sea offshore Norway.

The 35/9-7 well penetrated good quality Upper Jurassic reservoir sands initially judged to contain 60-160 million bbl of recoverable oil. Wintershall said further drilling is needed to confirm commercial viability and possible further upside. It said Skarfjell can serve as focal point for nearby discoveries.

Skarfjell is in 368 m of water 17 km southwest of Gjoa field and lies between the Grosbeak discovery to the south and the Titan discovery to the north. The primary exploration target of well 35/9-7 was to prove hydrocarbons in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks.

The Skarfjell well was drilled to 2,976 m true vertical depth below sea level and terminated in the Middle Jurassic Brent Group Rannoch formation. The well was not tested due to limitation in the rig slot length, but extensive reservoir and fluid sampling give valuable data on the new discovery. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The Songa Delta rig that drilled the 35/9-7 well will be transferred to Suncor to drill the 33/6-3S well.

PL 418 interests are Wintershall 35%, Agora Oil & Gas AS and Bayerngas Norge AS each 20%, Edison International Norway 15%, and RWE Dea Norge AS 10%. Wintershall noted that it has more than 40 licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, more than 20 of them operated.