Lundin Norway has started drilling an appraisal well on the Alta discovery in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.
The well 7220/11-4 (Alta-4) is in license PL609, on the Loppa High in the southern Barents Sea, where Lundin is the operator with a 40 percent working interest.
The Alta-4 well is located approximately 2 km south of the original discovery well 7220/11-1 and is the fourth well to be drilled on the Alta discovery.
According to Lundin, the main objective of the Alta-4 well is to further appraise the Alta discovery and to provide a calibration point for the drilling of a horizontal well for a possible extended well test that is being planned for 2018. The Alta discovery is estimated to contain gross contingent resources of between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalents (MMboe).
The Alta-4 well will be drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig Leiv Eiriksson and is expected to take approximately 65 days.
The oil company got a drilling permit for the appraisal well in late March and a consent to use the Ocean Rig-owned semi-sub for the well earlier in May.