Norwegian oil & gas players come up dry in North Sea and Barents Sea

Norwegian oil and gas players Aker BP and Vår Energi have respectively drilled two wells in the North Sea and Barents Sea that turned out to be dry.

Aker BP drilled the dry well 24/6-5 Alvheim Deep in the North Sea in production license 203, awarded in 1996, representing the eleventh exploration well drilled in this production license.

The objective was to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Intra-Draupne Formation. The Noble Integrator rig encountered the Draupne Formation, but no reservoir was present and the well is dry.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,626 meters below sea level, in a water depth of 120 meters, and was terminated in the Draupne Formation in the Upper Jurassic.

The rig will now drill sidetracks in the Kneler deposit, one of the six deposits in the Alvheim field where Aker BP is the operator.

There is considerable activity in this part of the North Sea, such as the 25/7-11 S Norma discovery made in 2023. Besides Aker BP, ConocoPhillips and DNO also have active production licenses in the area.

In the Barents Sea, Vår Energi used the Transocean Enabler rig to drill the exploration well 7219/6-1 Venus, which also came out dry and the well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

This is the first well to be drilled in the 1025 S production license, which was awarded in 2019.

The primary and secondary exploration targets were to prove petroleum in two levels in Lower Palaeocene reservoir rocks in the Torsk Formation. The well encountered the primary exploration target at 1,406 meters below sea level with alternating silty/schistose reservoir rocks with a thickness of 10-15 meters. Traces of gas have been observed at a depth of 1,430 meters and attempts were made to collect fluid samples but were unsuccessful as the reservoir rocks are tight.

The secondary exploration target was encountered at 1,563 meters below sea level, without the presence of reservoir rocks or indications of hydrocarbons, however, the well is classified as dry.

The rig will now proceed to well 7220/2-2 in production license 1080 for Equinor.