Equinor Energy AS and partners will consider development solutions for a North Sea hydrocarbon discovery (Røver North) 10 km northwest of Troll field and 18 km southwest of Fram field. Preliminary estimates place recoverable resources at 7-11 million standard cu m of oil equivalent (44-49 MMboe). The find is classified as commercial.
The partners also will consider drilling exploration wells in other adjacent prospects to gain a better overview of the resource base in the area.
Wildcat well 31/1-2 S and appraisal well 31/1-2 A, the first and second exploration wells in PL 923, were drilled by the West Hercules semisubmersible drilling rig 130 km northwest of Bergen in 349 m of water.
Well 31/1-2 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,440 m subsea and a measured depth of 3,555 m. It was terminated in the Amundsen formation from the Early Jurassic age. The objective was to prove petroleum in the Brent Group from the Middle Jurassic age and in the Cook formation from the Early Jurassic age.
Well 31/1-2 A was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,452 m subsea and a measured depth of 3,876 m. The appraisal well was terminated in the Cook formation. The purpose of the well was to delineate the discovery made in the Brent Group in 31/1-2 S.
Both wells proved hydrocarbons in two intervals in the Brent Group. Well 31/1-2 S encountered a 50-m gas column (Etive and Oseberg formations) and an oil column of at least 50 m in the Oseberg formation and the Dunlin Group (Drake formation from the Early Jurassic age).
About 50 m of the Brent Group consists of sandstone with good reservoir quality. A total of 6 m of sandstone of moderate to poor reservoir quality was encountered in the Drake formation. Oil-water contact was not encountered.
Appraisal well 31/1-2 A encountered a 12-m oil column in the Etive formation and a 17-m oil column in the Oseberg formation, in sandstone of good to moderate reservoir quality. Oil-water contact was not encountered in the first-mentioned unit.
Both wells encountered water in the Cook formation, which has good to moderate reservoir quality. The wells were not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling was undertaken. Both wells have been permanently plugged.
West Hercules will move on to drill Equinor-operated 31/2-22 S in PL 090 in the northern section of the North Sea.
Equinor is operator in PL 923 (40%) with partners DNO Norge AS (20%), Petoro AS (20%), and Wellesley Petroleum AS (20%).
