Wintershall Norge AS plans to evaluate a natural gas discovery well drilled in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks 115 km southwest of Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea (OGJ Online, Jan. 17, 2017).
Drilling is concluding on wildcat well 6604/5-1 after it encountered three gross gas columns, totaling 190 m, of which the reservoir makes up 90 m distributed between three different sandstone zones in the Springar formation, with mainly moderate to poor reservoir quality. No gas-water contact was encountered in the well.
Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at 7-19 billion standard cu m of recoverable gas and at 1-3 million standard cu m of recoverable condensate.
Well 6604/5-1, the first exploration well in Wintershall-operated (and 40% held) production license 894, was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,819 m subsea and was terminated in the Springar formation in the Upper Cretaceous. Water depth at the site is 1,219 m.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been conducted. It will be permanently plugged and licensees will evaluate the discovery together with other discoveries and prospects in the area to determine potential further development.