Lundin Norway AS has discovered oil and natural gas with the Alta exploratory well in the southern Barents Sea, according to the company and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
The well was drilled 20 km northeast of Lundin’s Gohta discovery well 7120/1-3 (OGJ Online, July 21, 2014).
Lundin said the latest well, 7220/11-1, encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of 57 m, with 11 m gas and 46 m oil in carbonate rocks of good reservoir quality.
Two production tests were performed in the oil zone, producing at a maximum rate of 3,260 b/d and 1.7 MMcfd.
Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery are 14-50 million standard cu m of recoverable oil and 5-17 billion standard cu m of recoverable gas, NPD said. Lundin said the gross recoverable resource range is estimated at 125-400 MMboe, with the oil resource range estimated at 85-310 million bbl.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,221 m below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Ugle formation from the Late Carboniferous period, NPD said. Water depth is 388 m.
Alta is the first exploration well in production license 609, which was awarded in the 21st licensing round in 2011. Further delineation is planned for 2015.
Lundin Norway holds 40% in PL 609. RWE Dea Norge AS and Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS each have 30%.
The Alta was drilled by Island Drilling Co. ASA’s Island Innovator semisubmersible drilling rig, which will move to PL 625 to drill wildcat 25/10-12 S for Lundin.
“This discovery is another positive step in relation to proving up sufficient resources in the Loppa High area of the Barents Sea to enable the development of oil production infrastructure,” said Ashley Heppenstall, president of Lundin Petroleum AB. “The Loppa High area is impacted by the Gulf Stream and as such is ice-free all year and far from the maximum southern edge of the ice edge,” Heppenstall said.
