Equinor drills dry well at Korpfjell Deep in Barents Sea

Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinor has drilled a duster near its Korpfjell gas discovery in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.

West Hercules in the Barents Sea; Source: Equinor; Photo by: Ole Jørgen Bratland
West Hercules in the Barents Sea; Source: Equinor; Photo by: Ole Jørgen Bratland

The wildcat well, formally known as “well 7335/3-1” and named Korpfjell Deep is located in the production license 859.

The well has been drilled about 8 kilometers southeast of the 7435/12-1 (Korpfjell) gas discovery in the Barents Sea, and about 435 kilometers north of Vardø.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Triassic Age (upper and lower part of the Havert formation). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum and reservoir rocks in the Snadd and Kobbe formations from the Middle to Late Triassic Age.

In the primary exploration target in the Havert formation, as well as in the overlying Klappmyss formation (from the Early to Middle Triassic Age), the well encountered sandy, but mainly tight intervals, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said Monday.

Sandy zones were encountered in the secondary exploration target in the Kobbe formation over an interval of about 125 meters, these were also mainly tight. In the Snadd formation, sandy intervals were encountered with poor reservoir quality. Some thin sandstone layers in the Triassic revealed traces of gas.

The Realgrunnen subgroup (from the Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic Age) was not an exploration target for the well, but around 170 meters of sandstone reservoir of moderate to good quality were proven. The well is classified as dry.

This is the second exploration well in production license 859. The first well in the license was the 7435/12-1 well named Korpfjell drilled in the summer of 2017 when Equinor found non-commercial gas volumes.

The well 7335/3-1 was drilled to a vertical depth of 4268 meters below the sea surface, and it was terminated in the lower part of the Havert formation. Water depth at the site is 239 meters. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well was drilled by the West Hercules semi-submersible drilling rig, which will now drill wildcat well 7324/6-1 in production license 855 in the Barents Sea, where Equinor Energy is the operator.

To remind, ahead of the start of the drilling of the Deep Korpfjell well the West Hercules rig had been occupied by Greenpeace activists protesting against Equinor’s Barents Sea drilling.


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