Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – By mid-year, 19 exploration wells have spudded offshore Norway, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). Thirteen were rank wildcats and six were appraisal wells. Of the wells, seven led to new discoveries.
The number of wells is slightly down from the 21 drilled in the first half of 2011. This, NPD explains, is due partly to a delay in starting new drilling operations because some ongoing drilling has taken longer than expected.
Also, this year’s discovery wells have been more complex and, therefore, have taken longer to complete, often involving testing and expanded data acquisition.
Four discoveries have come in the North Sea. Three containing oil are in the northern sector, while the last one (King Lear) is a gas/condensate discovery in the southern North Sea.
In the Norwegian Sea, RWE Dea found gas in theZidane 2 prospect near the Heidrun field. Mærsk found small volumes of oil in well 6406/3-9 (T–Rex).
In the Barents Sea, Statoil discovered oil in theHavis prospect, close to the Skrugard discovery. This is the largest find to date this year on the Norwegian continental shelf.
7/9/2012
