Equinor drills dry hole near Troll field in North Sea

Equinor Energy will use the data and samples from plugged well 32/4-3 S in the North Sea to test the sealing capacity of the Draupne formation in the Upper Jurassic and the storage potential for carbon dioxide in the reservoir rocks.

The well—the first exploration well drilled in PL 921—is dry, with no traces of petroleum.

The well was drilled by Seadrill’s West Hercules semisubmersible drilling rig 30 km southeast of Troll field and 60 km northwest of Bergen to respective vertical and measured depths of 1,969 m and 1,986 m subsea. It was terminated in the Lunde formation in the Upper Triassic. Water depth at the site is 292 m.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Sognefjord formation).

The secondary exploration target was to prove gas in Middle and Lower Jurassic, as well as Upper Triassic reservoir rocks (the Brent, Dunlin, and Statfjord groups).

In the primary exploration target, the well encountered 155 m of reservoir rocks in the Sognefjord formation with about 115 m of sandstone of good to very good reservoir quality.

The well also encountered sandstones in the Jurassic and Upper Triassic of 60 m in thickness in the Fensfjord formation, 35 m in the Krossfjord formation, 40 m in the Ness formation, 45 m in the Johansen formation, 7 m in the Statfjord group, and 95 m in the Lunde formation. The reservoir quality varied from moderate to very good.

The West Hercules semi will now drill wildcat well 6611/1-1 in PL 896 in the Norwegian Sea, where DEA Norge AS is operator.