Total drills dry hole in North Sea

Total E&P Norge is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 34/6-4, offshore Norway. The well is dry.

Total is the operator of production licence 554 located in the North Sea.

The well was drilled about 6 kilometres northeast of the 34/6-2 S (Garantiana) oil discovery.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said that the purpose of the well was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the the Cook formation.

The well encountered about 96 metres of aquiferous sandstone in the Cook formation with poor to moderate reservoir quality and it is classified as dry.

According to NPD, data acquisition has been carried out. This is the fifth exploration well in production licence 554,  awarded in 2010 (APA 2009).

Well 34/6-4 was drilled to a vertical depth of 4084 metres below the sea surface and was terminated in the Lower Jurassic Burton Formation.

Water depth in the area is 390 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 34/6-4 was drilled by the Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig.