OMV strikes oil at Wisting appraisal well

Austrian oil company OMV has struck oil in the 7324/8-3 well, appraising the Wisting discovery in the Barents Sea.

The well was drilled about two kilometers south of the discovery well 7324/8-1 and 315 kilometers north of Hammerfest.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Monday that discovery 7324/8-1 was proven in reservoir rocks from the Middle and Early Jurassic (upper part of the Realgrunnen sub-group) in 2013.

Before appraisal well 7324/8-3 was drilled, OMV’s resource estimate for the Wisting area was between 22 and 80 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents.

The NPD added that well 7324/8-3 encountered an oil column of about 55 meters in sandstones from the Middle Jurassic to Late Triassic (Stø and Fruholmen formations). The Stø formation has very good reservoir properties, while the Fruholmen formation has moderate to good reservoir properties.

“The resource estimate on the Wisting discovery will be updated based on evaluation of the new well data. The result will be important for future maturing of the Wisting area with regard to a potential development,” said NPD.

The objective of the well was to collect data to reduce uncertainties as regards the recoverable volumes, as well as to perform a water injection test in reservoir rocks in the Stø formation and a seismic monitoring study.

According to the NPD, extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out as well as a successful water injection test in the Stø formation which showed good injection properties.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 775 meters below the sea surface in a water depth of 396 meters. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

This is the sixth exploration well in production license 537. OMV’s Norwegian subsidiary, OMV (Norge) AS, is the operator with an ownership interest of 25 percent. Other licensees are Statoil Petroleum (35 percent), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (20 percent), and Petoro (20 percent).

The area in this license consists of parts of block 7324/7 and block 7324/8. Production license 537 was awarded on May 15, 2009.

The well was drilled from the Island Innovator semi-submersible drilling rig for the use of which the oil company gained consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority in early July. The one-well drilling contract was awarded in late June.

The drilling permit for the well was awarded to OMV in early August.