OMV’s Norwegian wildcat ends up being dry

July 16, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

OMV Norge, a Norwegian subsidiary of Austria-headquartered oil and gas player OMV, has drilled a dry well off the coast of Norway, using a semi-submersible rig managed by Odfjell Drilling, an offshore drilling contractor.

Deepsea Bollsta; Source: Odfjell Drilling

Following a drilling permit for the Hoffmann prospect in production license 1194, owned by OMV Norge (operator, 40%), Inpex Idemitsu Norway (30%) and Our Energy (30%), the wildcat well 6606/4-1 S was drilled to measured and vertical depths of 4,371 and 4,279 meters below sea level, respectively, and terminated in the Nise Formation in the Upper Cretaceous.

OMV exploration drilling marks Odfjell rig’s return to Norwegian waters

Exploration & Production

The water depth at the site is 883 meters. This is the second wildcat well drilled in this production license in the Norwegian Sea, where a gas discovery was made in the first well, 6605/6-1 S. The Hoffmann prospect, which is located in the Vøring Basin, about 65 kilometers south of the Aasta Hansteen field, was drilled by the Deepsea Bollsta rig, owned by Northern Ocean (NOL).

While the objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks in the Nise Formation, the well encountered a 19-meter thick sandstone layer with moderate reservoir quality and gas shows. As the well is classified as dry, with gas shows, it will be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The Deepsea Bollsta rig, which won this short-term deal on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) last year, is slated to move to its assignment with Equinor. The 2020-built sixth-generation semi-submersible rig of Moss CS60E design can accommodate 140 people.