Total’s Norwegian exploration and production subsidiary, Total E&P Norge, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 30/4-3 S, off Norway, after encountering a gas and condensate.
The well was drilled with the Mærsk Intrepid jack-up drilling rig in production license 043. The license is located in the northeast part of the Martin Linge field, in the North Sea.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (Brent group).
The well encountered gas and condensate in the Tarbert, Ness and Etive formations in the Brent group and the reservoir quality was good, the NPD said.
Preliminary estimations of the size of the discovery are between 2 and 11 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents.
Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out and the well was formation-tested. The maximum production rate was 2.4 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of gas/flow day through a 48/64-inch nozzle opening.
The NPD noted that the well has added additional resources to the Martin Linge development and was completed with the objective of putting the well into production at start-up of the field.
The well 30/4-3 S is the fourth exploration well in production license 043 which was awarded in 1976.
It was drilled to a vertical and measured depth of 4134 meters and 4581 meters below the sea surface, respectively, and was terminated in the Dunlin group in the Early Jurassic. Water depth is 115 meters.