Oil and gas estimated at between three and 19 million barrels of oil equivalent have been found by Statoil roughly three kilometres east of the Gudrun field in the North Sea.
The find was made in the Brynhild prospect where one exploration well was drilled with one technical sidetrack.
“The Brynhild find is a valuable addition to the field development project on the Gudrun field, although it’s no secret that the size of the discovery didn’t quite meet the expectations we had beforehand,” says Tom Dreyer, vice president for infrastructure led exploration in the North Sea.
The well struck oil in an 18-metre column of good reservoir quality in the Draupne formation. In addition, the well encountered a gas and oil column totalling 35 metres of variable reservoir quality in the Hugin formation.
The discovery will be assessed in connection with other oil and gas resources in the vicinity, and a tie-back to Gudrun will be considered.
“We’ll now continue the work of proving additional reserves in the area around the Gudrun field, and the Brynhild find is a good indication that it’s possible to prove more additional reserves in this area,” says Dreyer.
The wells were drilled by the Transocean Leader drill unit which will now drill a shallow well to explore the bedrock conditions of the Gudrun field.
The licensees in PL 187 are: Statoil, the operator (65%), Gdf Suez E&P Norge (25%) and Marathon Petroleum Norge (10%).
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Source: statoil, August 20, 2010;