Spirit Energy drills Barents Sea duster offshore Norway

Oil and gas operator Spirit Energy has completed the drilling of a wildcat well north of the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea. The well is dry.

The well 7322/7-1 was drilled about 120 kilometers north of the Johan Castberg field 310 kilometers north of Hammerfest in production license 852 where Spirit Energy is the operator.

Spirit Energy’s ownership interest is 60 percent and the licensee, Aker BP, has an ownership interest of 40 percent.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Monday that the objective of the well was to prove reservoirs and petroleum in Lower Cretaceous rocks in the Kolje formation.

According to NPD, no reservoir rocks were encountered in the Kolje formation, and the well was classified as dry.

This was the first exploration well in production license 852, awarded in the 23rd Round in 2016 and Spirit Energy carried out data acquisition and sampling.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 767 meters below the sea surface and was terminated in an unspecified formation in the Adventdal group from the Early Cretaceous. Water depth at the site is 454 meters, the well is permanently plugged and abandoned.

The 7322/7-1 well was drilled by the Island Innovator drilling rig. The rig will now drill wildcat well 7321/4-1 in production license 721 in the Barents Sea, where DEA Norge AS is the operator.

It is worth reminding that Spirit Norge received a drilling permit for the well from the NPD in June while the consent to use the rig on the well was awarded by the Petroleum Safety Authority back in April.

As for the rig, the Norwegian-flagged Island Innovator is a Global Maritime GM4000 type, delivered by the COSCO Shipyard in China in 2012. It is owned by Island Drilling Company, operated by Odfjell Drilling, and classified by DNV GL. Island Innovator was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in August 2013.