Lundin hits both oil and gas in Alta well

Lundin Petroleum AB has announced that drilling of exploration well 7220/11-1 on the Alta prospect in the Barents Sea has been successfully completed and has encountered both oil and gas.

The well is located 20 km northeast of the Gohta discovery (well 7120/1-3) and some 160 km from the Norwegian coastline. The main objective of well 7220/11-1 was to prove the presence of hydrocarbons in reservoir rocks of Permo- Carboniferous and Triassic age. The well encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of 57 metres consisting of 11 metres gas and 46 metres oil in carbonate rocks of good reservoir quality.

Extensive data acquisition and sampling was carried out in the reservoir, including conventional coring and fluid sampling. Two production tests (DSTs) were performed in the oil zone, producing at a maximum rate of 3,260 barrels of oil per day and 1.7 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMcfd) through a 36/64″ choke constrained by rig facilities. The gas/oil ratio was 94 Sm3/Sm3.

Following the results of well 7220/11-1 the preliminary evaluation of the gross recoverable oil and gas resource range in the Alta accumulation is estimated at 125 to 400 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe). The oil resource range is estimated at 85 to 310 million barrels of oil (MMbbls).

The Alta discovery is a significant predominantly oil discovery in the southern Barents Sea. Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO said.

Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO, said: “The Alta discovery is a significant predominantly oil discovery in the southern Barents Sea. Alta is close to the nearby Gohta discovery made by Lundin Petroleum just over a year ago. This discovery is another positive step in relation to proving up sufficient resources in the Loppa High area of the Barents Sea to enable the development of oil production infrastructure.

“We are very excited about this discovery and the potential in the Loppa High area where we are likely to drill three or four appraisal/exploration wells in 2015. In licence PL609 we have identified several multi hundred million barrel prospects on trend with Alta and Gohta. Our drilling successes in the Barents Sea have been made possible by extensive preparatory work including comprehensive environmental assessments and the mapping of sea bottom conditions. The Loppa High area is impacted by the Gulf Stream and as such is ice free all year and far from the maximum southern edge of the ice edge.”

The exploration well 7220/11-1 is the first well drilled in production license PL609 after it was awarded in the 21st Concession Round in 2011. The well was drilled to a total depth of 2,221 metres below mean sea level in a water depth of 388 metres. With the Alta discovery the remaining prospectivity on PL609 has been further de-risked. The Neiden and Borselv prospects further north in PL609 are drill-ready and both of these prospects have the potential to contain material prospective resources.

The well was drilled using the semi-submersible drilling rig Island Innovator. The drilling is being completed and the rig will move to drill exploration well 25/10-12S targeting the Kopervik prospect in production license PL625, in the Norwegian North Sea, where Lundin Norway is operator. Lundin Norway holds 40 percent interest in PL609. Partners are RWE Dea Norge AS and Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS with 30 percent each.