Two sidetracks confirmed the presence of oil-bearing sandstone of Late Jurassic age at Wintershall Noordzee BV’s Hibonite exploratory well in the Danish North Sea 337 km north of Den Helder, Netherlands.
The 5504/1-3 well on the 5/06 license 278 km west of Esbjerg, Denmark, and 7 km north of the 1986 Ravn discovery encountered reservoir with a preliminary resource estimate of as much as 100 million bbl of oil in place in Heno sandstones, and same formation as on the Ravn structure (OGJ Online, Dec. 18, 2009).
The well went to a true vertical depth of 4,431 m below sea level in 52 m of water and produced oil and gas on a production test. Then the two sidetracks were drilled.
Wintershall will evaluate the commercial viability of Hibonite, which it said might lend itself to cluster development with the Ravn discovery.
Wintershall has no production in the Danish North Sea, where it operates the 4/06a, 4/06b, and 5/06 licenses with 35%, 80%, and 35% interests, respectively.
The company will plug and abandon Hibonite and move the Noble George Sauvageau jack up to the neighboring 4/06a block to drill the operated Spurv-1 exploratory well. Wintershall Noordzee will also operate the Spurv-1 well.
Wintershall operates Hibonite with 35% interest. Bayerngas Petroleum Denmark AS has 30%, Nordsofonden 20%, and EWE Vertrieb Gmbh 15%.
