After a new hydrocarbon discovery came to light at a prospect off the coast of Norway, which was drilled with a semi-submersible rig owned by Odfjell Drilling, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has disclosed more information about the latest gas/condensate find in the Norwegian Sea.
The Mistral Sør discovery was made in production license 1119 , encompassing Equinor (operator, 50% interest), Pandion Energy (20%), DNO Norge (10%), and OKEA (20%), which recently secured a 30% interest after making arrangements with DNO to exchange partial stakes in two prospects, including this one.
According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, Equinor and its partners have proven gas/condensate in the wildcat well 6406/6-7 S , which is the first one drilled by the licensees in PL 1119 , but the fifth within the license area as a whole.
Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig drilled the Mistral Sør prospect around 170 kilometers northwest of Kristiansund and the preliminary estimates indicate that the discovery contains 3-7 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, which corresponds to 19-44 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.
Equinor’s partner, OKEA, claims the well encountered a 47-meter-thick gas/condensate column in a 99-meter-thick middle Jurassic sandstone with good reservoir properties. The licensees are considering a tie-back solution, where the discovery is connected to existing and planned infrastructure in the area.
The water depth at the site is 256 meters. While the primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in the Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Garn Formation, the secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in the Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Ile Formation.
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has also confirmed that the well 6406/6-7 S encountered a 46-meter gas/condensate column in a sandstone reservoir with good reservoir properties. The total thickness of the Garn Formation was 85 meters and the petroleum/water contact was found at 3,780 meters below sea level.
Furthermore, the Ile Formation was 86 meters thick in total and aquiferous with poor reservoir quality. With extensive data acquisition and sampling carried out, the well was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,024 meters below sea level and terminated in the Ror Formation in the Lower Jurassic. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Grete B. Haaland , Equinor’s Senior Vice President for Exploration & Production North, commented: “Norwegian gas is in high demand and is crucial to Europe’s energy security. That’s why it’s important for us to continue exploring and making new discoveries so we can maintain a high level of deliveries.
“This discovery was made in an area where gas infrastructure is already in place, and which we’re also continuing to develop. We have active exploration efforts underway in this area, which have resulted in several discoveries in recent years.”
The latest gas/condensate discovery comes after Equinor made another hydrocarbon one with the same rig in an area with previous commercial discoveries in the North Sea, putting another tie-back to existing infrastructure on the table as a development option to combine the recent discoveries in Norwegian waters.