Statoil, Total discover gas-condensate near Ekofisk
Statoil ASA said a high-pressure high-temperature gas-condensate discovery on its King Lear prospect in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea has recoverable volumes of 70-200 million bbl of oil equivalent.
The 2/4-21 exploratory well, drilled by the Maersk Gallant jackup in Production Licenses 146 and 333, found a 48-m gas-condensate column in the main wellbore and a further 70-m gas-condensate column in the 2/4-21A sidetrack.
Wells 2/4-21 and 2/4-21 A are the 11th and 12th wells drilled in PL146. Well 2/4-21 was drilled to a vertical depth of 5,344 m below sea level in 67 m of water, while 2/4-21A was drilled to a vertical depth of 5,237 m below sea level. The site is 20 km north of Ekofisk field.
Statoil will plan for appraisal drilling of the discovery as well as exploration drilling on other interesting prospects in the licenses.
Statoil as operator will evaluate whether King Lear should be developed as a stand-alone or as a tie-in to infrastructure in the area. This area, normally considered an oil province, may on the basis of this discovery and other gas resources form the basis for future gas development, the company said.
Interests in the licenses are Statoil 77.8% and Total E&P Norge 22.2%.
Alan Petzet | Chief Editor Exploration
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.