Equinor Energy AS and PL 263 D license partners will plug and assess a minor Norwegian Sea gas discovery along with other discoveries and prospects in the vicinity to determine further follow-up. Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at 0.5-1.6 million std cu m recoverable oil equivalent.
Well 6407/1-8 S—the first in the license—was drilled by the West Hercules drilling rig in 295 m of water about 9 km east of Maria field and 210 km north of Kristiansund to a vertical depth of 3,518 m. It was terminated in the Ile formation from the middle Jurassic age. The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Garn and Ile formations.
The well was not formation-tested, but data acquisition was undertaken. About 85 m of reservoir rocks were encountered in Garn of moderate to very good reservoir quality, but the well was dry in Garn and Ile. The well encountered a 9-m gas column in the Lange formation from the late Cretaceous age, in which there were three thin sandstone layers totaling 4 m with poor-to-moderate reservoir properties.
West Hercules will move to drill well 7018/5-1 for Equinor in PL 960 in the Barents Sea.
Equinor is operator of PL 263 D (60%) with partners Lime Petroleum AS (20%) and Pandion Energy (20%).