Wintershall to plug minor oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea

Wintershall Dea Norge AS has collected data and samples from a minor oil discovery in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea. Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at less than 1 million standard cu m of recoverable oil. The discovery is not considered profitable and the well will be plugged.

Well 6611/1-1, the first exploration well in production license 896, was drilled by Seadrill’s West Hercules semisubmersible drilling rig 150 km northeast of Norne field and 150 km southwest of Bodø to a vertical depth of 1,874 m subsea. It was terminated in rocks from the Triassic Age. Water depth at the site is 357 m.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Jurassic Age (Tilje and Are formations).

The well encountered 7 m of oil-bearing sandstone in the upper part of the assumed Jurassic sequence. The sandstone, which has not yet been dated, has moderate to good reservoir quality.

The well encountered a total of 200 m of sandstones in what are thought to be the exploration targets in the Tilje and Are formations, with moderate to good reservoir quality. The sandstones are water-bearing.

West Hercules will now drill well 31/5-7 in license 001 where Equinor Energy AS is operator.