Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 120, has completed drilling of exploration well 34/8-16 S, named Tarvos, offshore Norway.
The well was drilled on the east flank of the Visund field in the northern part of the North Sea, and about 140 km northwest of Bergen.
The well was drilled by the Songa Trym drilling rig. After the completion of the well, the rig’s contract was cancelled , four months before the expiration of contract on March 4, 2016, and the rig was stacked.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the primary exploration target for 34/8-16 S was to prove gas and/or gas condensate in the Middle Triassic (the Lomvi formation). The secondary exploration target was to investigate additional resources in Lower to Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Statfjord and Brent Group) and Upper Triassic reservoir rocks (the Lunde formation).
The well encountered an oil/gas/condensate column of about 85 metres in the Lunde formation, 40 metres of which were of moderate to good reservoir quality, the NPD said. The Brent group is not present. Preliminary calculations of the size of the discovery are between 0.4 and 1.1 million Sm³ of recoverable oil equivalents. The licensees will consider further development of the discovery in the context of other potential additional resources, said the directorate.
The well was not formation tested, but comprehensive data collection and sampling were carried out.
This is the 26th exploration well drilled in production licence 120. Well 34/8-16 S was drilled to a vertical and measured depth of 3875 and 3830 metres below sea level, respectively, and was terminated in the Hegre group in the Triassic. The water depth at the site is 380 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
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