Vår Energi ASA completed drilling wildcat Well 7122/9-1 in production license (PL) 229 E about 27 km northeast of Goliat field in the southern part of the Barents Sea, 85 km from Hammerfest in 403 m of water.
The well, the first exploration in the license, was drilled by the by the Transocean Enabler semisubmersible rig to a vertical depth of 1,906 m below sea level and was terminated in the Ørret formation in the Upper Permian. The objective was to prove petroleum in Lower Triassic reservoir rocks in the Havert formation, as well as to investigate reservoir quality in the Ørret formation.
The well encountered a 55-m gas column in the Havert formation, in sandstone layers totaling 46 m with moderate-to-good reservoir quality. The gas-water contact was not encountered. In the Ørret formation, the well encountered an aquiferous sandstone reservoir with poor-to-moderate reservoir quality.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out. It will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 9 and 21 million std cu m recoverable oil equivalent. The licensees will consider tying the discovery back to existing infrastructure on Goliat field.
Transocean Enabler will now drill wildcat Well 7122/8-1 S in PL 229 in the southern part of the Barents Sea, where Vår Energi ASA is the operator.
Vår Energi is operator at PL 229E (50%) with partner ABP Norway AS (50%).
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
