Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Statoil has proven small volumes of oil and gas/condensate with two exploration wells at the Njord North Flank in the Norwegian Sea.
The semisubmersibleSonga Delta first drilled the 6407/7-9 S well, 6 km (3.7 mi) north of the Njord production center.
According to partnerFaroe Petroleum, the well penetrated 102 m (334 ft) of gross oil-bearing reservoir in Mid and Lower Jurassic sandstones of the Ile formation and 157 m (515 ft) of a gross gas condensate-bearing column in Lower Jurassic sandstones in the Tilje formation.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate describes reservoir properties in both cases as poor to moderate.
Based on these results the partnership decided to drill a side track (well 6407/7-9A) to test a fault-block to the east. This encountered 195 m (640 ft) of gross gas-bearing column in the Tilje formation and 140 m (459 ft) of gross gas-bearing column in Lower Jurassic sandstones in the Åre formation, but no hydrocarbons in the Ile formation in NF3.
Neither well was drillstem tested but extensive data was acquired, analysis of which indicates combined resources in the range of 1.9-28.3 MMboe, in line with pre-drill estimates.
TheSonga Delta will next perform a plugging operation on the Tune field in production license 190.
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: “This new Greater Njord Area discovery…has the potential to add further value and reserves to theNjord Future Project, which is scheduled to commence in early 2017.
“The North Flank discovery has also benefited from low rig rates and hence drilling costs, which, coupled with the Norwegian exploration tax rebate, has ensured Faroe’s cost exposure was very low and maintains our low finding costs.”
Faroe will soon participate in a potentially high-impact exploration well on the Dazzler prospect in the Barents Sea. Operator Eni expects drilling to start around year end.
10/18/2016
