Norway’s energy giant Equinor has drilled an exploration well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, which turned out to be dry. This well was drilled using one of Odfjell Drilling’s rigs.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), now called the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD), granted Equinor a drilling permit in November 2023 for a wildcat well 35/11-28 S, known as the Harden sør prospect, in production license 248 C , which was awarded on April 9, 2013, and is valid until June 4, 2035.
Equinor is the operator of the license and holds an ownership interest of 30%, while its partners, Petoro and Wellesley Petroleum, hold the remaining 40% and 30%, respectively. The water depth at the site is 359 meters. This is the sixth well to be drilled in this license.
The drilling activities were completed 130 kilometers northwest of Bergen by Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Stavanger semi-submersible rig. The objective of the wildcat well 35/11-28 S, which was drilled 9 kilometers west of the Fram field, was to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Heather Formation.
In line with this, the well encountered the Heather Formation with a total depth of about 117 meters, 29 meters of which was a sandstone reservoir with moderate to poor reservoir quality and traces of hydrocarbons. The well is classified as dry.
The well 35/11-28 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,270 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Heather Formation in the Upper Jurassic. As the well proved to be dry, it was permanently plugged and abandoned.
The 2010-built Deepsea Stavanger rig is a sixth-generation deepwater and harsh environment semi-submersible of an enhanced GVA 7500 design. The rig is capable of working at water depths of up to 3,000 meters and its maximum drilling depth capacity is 10,670 meters.
Recently, Equinor drilled another exploration well in the Norwegian North Sea, which also ended up being dry.