Equinor to consider tie-in of new Barents Sea oil discovery
Equinor Energy AS encountered hydrocarbons in the Skred prospect near Johan Castberg field and will consider development through a tie-in to the field. Preliminary calculations indicate 0.3-0.5 billion std cu m of recoverable gas (1.9–3.1 MMboe), the Norwegian Offshore Directorate noted in a release July 10.
Well 7220/5-4, the 15th exploration well in production license (PL) 532, was drilled by the COSL Prospector drilling rig about 23 km north of discovery well 7220/8-1 in the Barents Sea and 210 km northwest of Hammerfest (OGJ Online, Mar. 6, 2012). Water depth at the site is 415 m.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,144 m subsea. It was terminated in the Fruholmen formation from the Late Triassic. The objective was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic. The primary exploration target was the Stø formation, and the secondary exploration target was the Nordmela formation.
The well encountered a 14-m gas column in the Stø formation in sandstone totaling 70 m and with good reservoir quality. The gas-water contact was encountered 1,849 m below sea level. In the lower part of the Nordmela formation, the well also encountered gas in a 3-m thick isolated sandstone layer with moderate to good reservoir quality.
Above the primary exploration target, the well encountered a 14-m thick sandstone layer from the Cretaceous, where a 1-2-m thick zone in the lower part of the reservoir was filled with oil. The reservoir quality is poor to moderate.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive volumes of data and samples were collected. The well will be plugged.
Equinor is operator at PL 532 (46.3%) with partners Vår Energi ASA (30%) and Petoro AS (23.7%).
About the Author
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).