Statoil ASA reported that its exploration well 7220/4-1 has encountered a 130-m gas column in the Sto and Nordmela formations, though the company also said reservoir quality was poorer than expected. In the Snadd formation, the well encountered a 45-m gas column.
The Kramsno prospect is the fourth of five that Statoil is targeting around the Johan Castberg field.
The wildcat was drilled 11 km northwest of the 7220/8-1 discovery in the Barents Sea about 247 km northwest of Hammerfest.
The company estimates the discovery totals to range from 2-4 billion cu m of recoverable gas.
The Seadrill West Hercules semisubmersible rig drilled the well to a vertical depth of 2,806 m in 403 m of water. The well was terminated in the Snadd formation from the Middle to Late Triassic, and will now be permanently plugged and abandoned. This is the sixth exploration well in PL532.
The West Hercules will now move on to drill wildcat well 7220/7-3 S on the company’s Drivis prospect in PL532. “Out of the four wells drilled in this program only one has resulted in an oil discovery,” said Iren Rummelhoff, Statoil’s senior vice president of exploration, Norway (OGJ Online, Dec. 9, 2013).
