OMV is the process of concluding the drilling of an appraisal well on the Hades gas/condensate discovery in the Norwegian Sea as part of its efforts to delineate the discovery and reduce uncertainty associated with the resource estimate.
The well 6506/11-12 S is located in production licence 644 where OMV is the operator.
OMV received consent from the offshore safety body , the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), to drill this well using the Island Innovator drilling rig back in May 2020.
The drilling permit for the well was also secured from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) during the same month.
The well was drilled about five kilometres west of the Morvin field in the Norwegian Sea and 240 kilometres northwest of Kristiansund.
The discovery was proven in 2018 in Lower Cretaceous reservoir rocks (the Lange Formation).
Before well 6506/11-12 S was drilled, the resource estimate for the discovery in the Lange Formation was between 3 and 23 million standard cubic metres (Sm 3 ) of recoverable oil equivalents.
The NPD said on Tuesday that the objective of the appraisal well was to delimit the gas/condensate discovery in the Lange Formation toward the southwest, reduce uncertainty associated with the resource estimate, and to conduct a formation test.
The well encountered an interpreted gas column of about eight metres in the Lange Formation, with sandstone layers totalling about 83 meters with variable reservoir properties from poor to moderate. The gas/water contact was not directly encountered.
The operator’s preliminary estimate of the size of discovery 6506/11-10 (Hades) is between 2 and 7 million standard cubic metres (Sm 3 ) of recoverable oil equivalents.
The licensees in production licence 644/644 B will assess the updated resources in 6506/11-10 (Hades) along with resources in the Middle Jurassic (Garn Formation) in the same discovery well, 6506/11-10 (Iris), for further follow-up.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition was carried out.
This is the second exploration well in production licence 644, which was awarded in APA 2011.
The discovery well 6506/11-10 was drilled in production licence 644 B, which was awarded in APA 2015.
The well 6506/11-12 S was drilled to a measured depth of 4150 metres and a vertical depth of 4062 metres below sea level, and was terminated in the Lange Formation in the Lower Cretaceous.
The water depth at the site is 433 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
The well was drilled by the Island Innovator drilling rig, which will now proceed to Hanøytangen shipyard.