OMV made a gas discovery in Velocette exploration well 6607/3-1 S, 225 km west of Sandnessjøen and 45 km southeast of Equinor Energy-operated Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea. Preliminary estimates indicate 0.2-1.8 million cu m of recoverable oil equivalent.
The well, the first to be drilled in production license (PL) 1016, was drilled by the Transocean Norge rig in 475 m of water to vertical and measured depths of 3,645 and 3,770 m subsea, respectively. The well was terminated in the Nise formation in the Upper Cretaceous.
The objective was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Nise formation in the Upper Cretaceous (OGJ Online, Aug. 9, 2023).
The well encountered a gas-condensate column of about 9 m in the Nise formation, about 5 m of which is in a sandstone reservoir with quality varying from moderate to very good. The Nise formation has a total thickness of 55 m. The gas-water contact was encountered in the well.
The well was not formation-tested, but data acquisition and sampling have been performed. The well will be permanently plugged.
The Transocean Norge drilling rig will now move to PL 836 S, where Wintershall Dea is operator.
OMV is operator at PL 1016 (40%) with partners INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS (40%) and Longboat Energy Norge AS (20%).
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).