ConocoPhillips in minor oil and gas discovery in North Sea

Oil and gas major ConocoPhillips has concluded the drilling of a wildcat well near the Balder field in the North Sea, which resulted in a minor oil and gas discovery.

The wildcat well 25/7-8 S, named Enniberg, is located in production license 917 where ConocoPhillips is the operator. The well was drilled about 10 kilometers northwest of the Balder field in the central part of the North Sea, and 200 kilometers west of Stavanger.

ConocoPhillips received consent to drill the well using the Leiv Eiriksson rig back in September 2019 and a drilling permit for the well in October 2019.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s update on Tuesday, the primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic and Upper Triassic reservoir rocks (the Nansen, Eiriksson and Skagerrak Formations). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Hugin and Sleipner Formations).

In the primary exploration target, the well encountered several oil and gas-bearing intervals with independent columns. In the Nansen Formation there is a total of 28 meters of sandstone with good reservoir quality, of which 5 meters are oil-bearing.

The Eiriksson Formation has a total of 11 meters of sandstone with moderate reservoir quality, of which 6 meters are oil and gas-bearing. In the Skagerrak Formation there is a total of 13 meters of sandstone with moderate reservoir quality, of which 8 meters are gas-bearing.

In the secondary exploration target, three thin gas-bearing sandstone layers totalling 3 meters with moderate reservoir properties were encountered in the Sleipner Formation. In the Hugin Formation, sandstone layers were encountered with moderate reservoir quality and a total thickness of 25 meters. The Hugin Formation is water-bearing.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at between 1 and 5 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent. The licensees will assess the well results with a view to further exploration in the license.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out.

The well 25/7-8 S was drilled to respective measured and vertical depths of 3225 and 3188 meters below sea level and the well was terminated in the Skagerrak Formation in the Upper Triassic. Water depth at the site is 126 meters.

This is the first exploration well in production license 917. The license was awarded in APA 2017.

The well 25/7-8 S was drilled by the Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig, which will continue drilling wildcat well 25/7-9 S in production license 917.