Harbour Energy encountered gas in the North Sea in a discovery area previously proven through two other exploration wells. The operator and license partners will assess a potential tie-in of the discovery—estimated to contain overall gas volume of 1-3 million std cu m of recoverable oil equivalent—to area infrastructure.
Well 15/9-25, the first in production license (PL) 1138, was drilled northeast of the Sleipner area, about 210 km west of Stavanger, in 84 m of water.
The gas discovery was first proven in wells 16/7-2 and 16/7-10, drilled on the western flank of Utsira High in 1982 and in the Theta Prospect in the South Viking Graben in 2011, respectively.
Well 15/9-25 was drilled by the Noble Integrator jackup to a measured depth of 2,872 m subsea. IT was terminated in the Smith Bank formation in the Upper Triassic.
The primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic and Triassic reservoir rocks in Hugin and Skagerrak formations. The secondary exploration target was to delineate gas proven in wells 16/7-2 and 16/7-10 in reservoir rocks in the Ty Formation from the Palaeocene.
In the primary exploration target, the well encountered a 22-m thick layer of aquiferous sand with very good reservoir quality in the Hugin formation in the Vestland Group. In the Ty formation, the well encountered a 10-m gas column in a 118-m thick sandstone reservoir with very good reservoir quality. The gas-water contact was encountered 2,330 m below sea level, which confirms the contact encountered in nearby wells.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out. It has been permanently plugged.
Harbour Energy is operator at PL 1138 (40%) with partners Sval Energi AS (30%) and Aker BP ASA (30%).
