Shell’s Norwegian subsidiary AS Norske Shell has completed drilling of the appraisal well 6305/8-2 on the Ormen Lange field, offshore Norway.
Ormen Lange was proven in 1997 and has been producing since 2007. The reservoir is in Lower Palaeocene and Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks (Våle formation’s ‘Egga reservoir unit’ and ‘Våle heterolithics’, as well as the Jorsalfare formation).
The field is located at water depths of 600 to 1100 metres in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea, and about 130 kilometres northwest of Kristiansund. The well was drilled about seven kilometres south-southeast of the southernmost subsea template on the field.
The objective of well 6305/8-2 was to delineate the field to the south, as it was unclear whether the area was drained or not optimally drained by existing production wells. The well encountered a 28-metre gas column with an underlying water zone in the ‘Egga reservoir unit’ with very good reservoir quality. According to a statement on the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s websote, both ‘Våle heterolithics’ and the Jorsalfare formation were aquiferous with very good and ranging from poor to very good reservoir quality, respectively. The water zone is 70 metres in total.
Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. Preliminary well results do not provide a basis for changing the expected recoverable reserves from Ormen Lange. The licensees will consider further expansion of this area of the field with a tie-in to the southernmost subsea template on the field.
This is the ninth exploration well drilled on the Ormen Lange field and the second appraisal well drilled in production licence 250, which was awarded in the 15th round in 1999.
The appraisal well was drilled to a vertical depth of 3037.5 metres below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Kyrre formation in Upper Cretaceous. Water depth is 615 metres. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Well 6305/8-2 was drilled by the Transocean Barents drilling rig, which will now proceed to the Draugen field in the Norwegian Sea to permanently plug production well 6407/9-A-53-H in production licence 093, where A/S Norske Shell is the operator.
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