Norwegian state-owned oil and gas giant Equinor has wrapped up drilling activities at an appraisal well in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway with one of Odfjell Drilling’s rigs.
Equinor recently completed the 7324/7-4 appraisal well on the Wisting discovery in the Barents Sea to acquire data on the reservoir and cap rock for use in the ongoing evaluation and development of the discovery. The well is situated in production license 537 , operated by the Norwegian player with a 35% interest while other partners, Aker BP, Petoro, and Inpex Idemitsu Norge, hold 35%, 20%, and 10% interests, respectively.
Furthermore, the well was drilled 300 kilometers north of Hammerfest, using the 2010-built Deepsea Stavanger sixth-generation deepwater and harsh environment semi-submersible of an enhanced GVA 7500 design, which is capable of working at water depths of up to 3,000 meters and its maximum drilling depth capacity is 10,670 meters.
The Wisting discovery, which was proven in Middle Jurassic and Upper Triassic reservoir rocks in the Realgrunnen Subgroup in 2013, is being evaluated for development along with the Hanssen discovery in the same production license.
Moreover, the well 7324/7-4 encountered the reservoir in the Stø and Nordmela formations with a total of 39 meters, with good reservoir quality. While extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out, the licensees will conduct extensive analyses of the collected samples and data to determine their significance for the Wisting development.
The appraisal well 7324/7-4 was drilled to a vertical depth of 870 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Fruholmen Formation in the Upper Triassic. The water depth is 396 meters, and the well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.
Equinor intends to take more drilling operations in the Barents Sea in search of more hydrocarbons, as confirmed by a recent green light from Norway’s offshore safety regulator for production drilling/completion and drilling of exploration segment with one of Transocean’s rigs.