Engie’s Cara well hits oil and gas

Engie E&P Norge is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 36/7-4 located in the North Sea. The well proved oil and gas.

The well is located in production license 636, in a prospect named Cara, where Engie is the operator with 30% interest. The other partners are Tullow Oil Norge with 20% stake, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge with 30%, and Wellesley Petroleum with 20%.

The well was drilled six kilometers northeast of the Gjøa field and 55 kilometers southwest of Fløro with the Transocean Arctic semi-submersible drilling rig.

The company received a consent for drilling in PL 636 with the Transocean Arctic drilling rig in May this year and a drilling permit from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for the well 36/7-4 in June. The well was spud in July.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Early Cretaceous reservoir rocks (Agat formation).

According to NPD’s report on exploration drilling on Friday, the well encountered an approx. 50-metre gas column and 60-metre oil column in the Agat formation. Reservoir quality ranges from very good in the top section to good in the lower section.

Preliminary estimation of the size of the discovery is between 4.3 – 11 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents.

The well was formation-tested. The maximum production rate was 1.3 million Sm3 gas per flow day through a 76/64-inch nozzle opening. The gas/oil ratio is approx. 16,000 Sm3/Sm3. The formation test generally showed very good production and flow properties. Extensive data and samples were collected.

The licensees will consider a tie-in of the discovery to existing infrastructure on the Gjøa field.

The 36/7-4 is the first exploration well in production license 636. The license was awarded in APA 2011.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2702 meters below the sea surface and was terminated in the Åsgard formation in the Lower Cretaceous.

Water depth at the site is 349 meters. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.