Gas target empty at Oseberg deeper pool oil find

March 23, 2012
A Statoil ASA group has made a small oil discovery in PL053 in the Oseberg Area Unit in the North Sea offshore Norway.

A Statoil ASA group has made a small oil discovery in PL053 in the Oseberg Area Unit in the North Sea offshore Norway.

The 30/6-28S exploratory well proved a 12-m oil column in the Statfjord formation. Statoil estimated the discovered recoverable volume at 12-18 million bbl of oil equivalent. Attractive economics outweigh the modest volume, Statoil said.

The discovery on the Crimp prospect is to be produced through Oseberg facilities. The Statfjord formation was the well’s secondary target.

The primary target was the Crux prospect that Statoil earlier defined as a high impact gas opportunity. With the Crux prospect Statoil tested a hypothesis for the existence of a separate gas-filled structure underlying Oseberg field, but the formation did not contain hydrocarbons.

After completing the 30/6-28S well, the COSL Pioneer semisubmersible will move to Glitne field.

Statoil is operator of PL 053 with 49.3 % interest. Petoro AS has 33.6%, Total E&P Norge AS 10%, ExxonMobil E&P Norway AS 4.7 %, and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS 2.4%.

About the Author

Alan Petzet | Chief Editor Exploration

Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.

Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.