Statoil Discovers Gas/Condensate Near Sleipner Field, Offshore Norway

Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 569, is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat well 16/7-10. The well proved gas/condensate.

The well was drilled 16 kilometres northeast of the Sleipner Øst field in the North Sea.

The purpose of the well was to prove petroleum in Paleocene reservoir rocks (the Ty formation). Only a thin gas/condensate column was encountered in a 115-metre thick reservoir with the expected reservoir quality. The licensees will evaluate the discovery together with other nearby discoveries.

The well was not formation tested, but data acquisition and sampling have been carried out.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2487 metres below the sea surface and was terminated in the Shetland group in the Upper Cretaceous. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well is the first exploration well in production licence 569, which was awarded in APA 2010.

Well 16/-10 was drilled by the Ocean Vanguard drilling facility, which will now proceed to production licence 120 in the northern part of the North Sea to drill production wells at the Visund Sør field, where Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator.

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Source:NPD, August 29, 2011; Image:PTIL