MOL Norge drills duster in North Sea

MOL Norge, a Norwegian unit of the Hungarian oil company MOL, has completed exploration well 3/7-11 S, targeting the Vinstra and Otta prospects in PL539 in the North Sea. Both targets were dry.

Rowan Viking drilling rig. Source: Lundin

MOL Norge was granted a drilling permit by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to drill the wildcat well, designated 3/7-11 S, in March 2019.

The well is located in production license 539 in the North Sea where MOL is the operator with Lundin and Wintershall Norge as its partners.

The well was drilled with the Rowan Viking jack-up drilling rig, about seven kilometers southwest of the Trym field on the eastern side of the Mandal High and about two kilometers north of the border with Denmark.

Lundin informed on Friday that the main objective of the well was to test the reservoir properties and hydrocarbon potential of the Middle Jurassic sandstones in the Otta prospect and of the deeper Rotliegendes sandstones in the Vinstra prospect, located in the Mandal High area of the southern Norwegian North Sea close to the Danish maritime border.

According to the company, the well encountered thin and tight dry sandstones in the Otta interval, and no reservoir was present in the Vinstra prospect.

The NPD said that this was the second exploration well in production licence 539, which was awarded in APA 2009. It was drilled to respective vertical and measured depths of 3670 meters and 3893 meters below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Permian. Water depth at the site is 66 meters. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The NPD also said that the Rowan Viking jack-up rig will now be temporarily laid up.

Offshore Energy Today Staff


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