Statoil in minor gas discovery near Oseberg field

Norwegian oil giant Statoil has completed drilling of wildcat well 30/9-28 S, near the Oseberg field in the North Sea offshore Norway, that resulted in a minor gas discovery. 

Statoil is the operator of production licence 104 where the well is located. The well was drilled about 5.5 kilometres west of the Oseberg South field in the central part of the North Sea and 140 kilometres west of Bergen.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Lower and Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Tarbert formation and upper part of the Statfjord group). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks (lower part of the Statfjord group).

The well encountered an approx. 20-metre gas column, of which 10 metres were in sandstone with good reservoir quality in the Tarbert formation. The gas/water contact in the Tarbert formation has been estimated at 2870 metres based on pressure data. In the Statfjord group, the well encountered a 12-metre gas column in sandstone with moderate reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was proven at 3506 metres. The secondary exploration target in the lower part of the Statfjord group is aquiferous.

Preliminary estimation of the size of the discovery is between one and two million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents. The discovery will be considered for development as part of the “Oseberg Future Phase 2” project, the directorate said.

The well was not formation-tested, but data acquisition and sampling were carried out.

This is the 24th exploration well drilled in production licence 104.

The well was drilled to a measured and vertical depth of 4083 and 3928 metres below the sea surface, respectively, and was terminated in the Statfjord group in the Lower Jurassic. Water depth is 99 metres. The well is now being permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 30/9-28 S was drilled by the Songa Delta drilling rig, which will now proceed to drill a shallow gas pilot, 30/6-U-27 in production licence 053, where Statoil is the operator.