Page ends up being blank as North Sea drilling ops yield no oil

November 18, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

DNO Norge, a subsidiary of Norwegian oil and gas player DNO, has not found black gold during the drilling of a well in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, which was conducted with a rig owned by Noble Corporation, a U.S.-headquartered offshore drilling giant.

Noble Intrepid (former Maersk Intrepid) jack-up rig; Source: Noble Corporation

After the company secured a drilling permit from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate for the well 2/6-8 S, it proceeded to drill a dry well in the Page prospect in the southern part of the North Sea, about 270 kilometers from Stavanger and 40 kilometers from Ekofisk.

The wildcat well 2/6-8 S and technical sidetrack 2/6-8 ST2 were drilled in production licence 1086, where the 2/6-7 S well, known as Othello oil discovery, was made last year. The production license was awarded in APA 2021 and is valid until February 19, 2030.

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This is the second exploration well drilled in this production license, where DNO is the operator with a 50% stake, with Petoro (20%), Aker BP (20%), and Source Energy (10%) as its partners. The well was drilled with Noble Corporation’s Noble Intrepid ultra-harsh environment jack-up rig.

As explained by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, the objective of the well was to prove oil in Palaeocene reservoir rocks in the Borr Member in the Våle Formation. While the well encountered the Våle Formation and Ekofisk Formation as expected, the Borr Member was only represented by thin sandstone layers.

As a result, the well is classified as dry with hydrocarbon shows in the Våle Formation and Ekofisk Formation. The well 2/6-8 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,715 meters before it was plugged and abandoned due to the unstable hole.

On the other hand, the well 2/6-8 ST2 was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,981 meters below sea level and terminated in the Ekofisk Formation from the Palaeocene.

Not only was a 45-meter core taken in the Våle Formation and Ekofisk Formation, but pressure data and fluid samples were also collected in the Ekofisk Formation. The water depth at the site is 55 meters, and the well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The 2014-built Noble Intrepid Gusto MSC CJ70 X150 MD jack-up rig can accommodate 150 people. Capable of working in a water depth of 492 feet, the rig’s maximum drilling depth is 40,000 feet.