Gas/condensate discovery in the North Sea – 15/6-10

ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, operator of production license 029B, has completed the drilling of the wildcat 15/6-10. The well is located about 30 kilometers north of the Sleipner field in the North Sea. Det norske oljeselskap (Det norske) has drilled the well on behalf of ExxonMobil.

The purpose of the well was to prove hydrocarbons in reservoir rocks of Middle Jurassic age in the”Freke” prospect.

The well found a 30 meter gas/condensate column in rocks of Middle Jurassic age. It was not tested but extensive data collection and sampling have been carried out. The licensees will further evaluate the discovery.

This is the 1st exploration well in production license 029B which was carved out from production license 029 in 2001. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 3677 meters below sea level, and was completed in rocks of Upper Triassic age.

The water depth was 111 meters. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well was drilled by the semi-submersible rig Bredford Dolphin that will now proceed to production license PL 027D in the North Sea to drill the wildcat 25/8-16S (the Eitri prospect) operated by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, where Det norske will act as drilling operator.

The licensees in production license 029B are StatoilHydro (50 percent), ExxonMobil (30 percent) and Det norske oljeselskap (20 percent).

Det norske is currently experiencing its highest exploration activity ever, with four ongoing exploration wells.

This week operator StatoilHydro started to drill sidetrack well 30/11 7A to appraise the Fulla-gas and condensate discovery in PL 035B/PL 362. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate reported on February 5, 2009 that StatoilHydro had made a discovery of 6 million boe to 18 million boe of gas and condensate on the Fulla prospect. Det norske has a 15 percent interest in the license. The aim of the appraisal well is to prove more resources.

Talisman Energy has spudded exploration well 15/12-21 on the Grevling prospect as operator in PL 038D. Originally, Det norske had a 5 percent interest in the prospect, but this was recently lifted to 30 percent. Grevling is an oil prospect north of Varg, and a discovery could be tied back to the field and help extend production from the field.

StatoilHydro is currently drilling exploration well 16/2-5 on the Ragnarock Graben prospect in PL 265. Det norske has a 20 percent interest in the license.

In addition to this, Bredford Dolphin’s next assignment will be to drill the Eitri prospect eight km east of the Jotun field where Det norske has a 35 percent interest. Det norske will drill also the well on behalf of license operator ExxonMobil.