Equinor ASA and its partners are considering a tie-in of the Skruis (7220/5-3) exploration well drilled in production license 532 in the Barents Sea to Johan Castberg oil field following confirmation of 12-25 million bbl of recoverable oil.
Skruis was drilled using Songa Offshore’s Songa Enabler semisubmersible drilling rig starting Sept. 27 to a TVD of 1,750 m subsea and was terminated in the Fruholmen formation from the late Triassic Age. The well was drilled in 409 m of water 8 km northwest of the Johan Castberg discovery well 7220/8-1 and 225 km northwest of Hammerfest, Norway.
The primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic Age (the Sto and Nordmela formations). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Jurassic Age (the Tubaen formation).
The well encountered a total oil column of about 35 m in the Sto formation, 30 m of which was effective reservoir in sandstone with moderate-to-good reservoir quality. The oil-water contact was encountered at 1,415 m subsea. Both the Sto and the Nordmela formation are a little thicker than expected. The Sto formation has about 30 m of water-bearing sandstone below the oil-water contact, with mainly good reservoir properties. The Nordmela formation has water-bearing sandstone layers totaling more than 100 m with moderate-to-good reservoir quality. In the Tubaen formation, the sandstone layers have moderate-to-good reservoir properties.
The ninth exploration well in the license, Skruis was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. The well will be permanently plugged.
