Neptune Energy and partners began drilling the Dugong appraisal well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The objective is “to collect the data necessary to help provide certainty related to the reservoir, structure and recoverable resources, so the partnership can optimize the development solution,” said Steinar Meland, Neptune Energy’s director of subsurface, Norway. Data will also provide information “to help de-risk additional exploration and development opportunities in the license and in the surrounding area,” he said.
The Dugong license is 158 km west of Florø, Norway, at a water depth of 330 m, and is close to the existing production facilities of Snorre field. The reservoir lies at a depth of 3,250-3,400 m.
The discovery, in production license 882, was one of the largest on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2020 (OGJ Online, Jun. 18, 2020). Neptune estimates recoverable resources to be 40-120 MMboe.
The appraisal well is being drilled by the Deepsea Yantai, a new semisubmersible rig owned by CIMC and operated by Odfjell Drilling.
Neptune and the Dugong partners plan to drill an exploration well in the license in this year’s third quarter targeting the Dugong Tail prospect.
Neptune Energy is operator of the license (45%). Partners are Petrolia NOCO (20%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (20%), and Concedo (15%).