Aker BP ASA has proven gas through a well drilled to confirm the size of certain previous discoveries made in 2022 and will consider tying the discoveries back to existing infrastructure in the area, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD).
Appraisal well 6507/2-7 S was drilled 230 km west of Sandnessjøen and 12 km west of Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea by the Deepsea Nordkapp rig. The well, in production license 261, was drilled to a vertical depth of 5,098 m and a measured depth of 5,140 m subsea. It was terminated in the Åre formation from the Lower Jurassic age. Water depth at the site is 340 m.
The appraisal well, which was drilled to delineate the Storjo East and Kaneljo discoveries in Jurassic and Cretaceous reservoir rocks, respectively (OGJ Online, July 11, 2022).
With the appraisal, the operator narrowed preliminary estimates of the exploration targets. Aker BP places the size of the discoveries at 2-8.7 million standard cu m (13-55 MMboe) of recoverable oil equivalent in the primary exploration target. Before drilling well 6507/2-7 S, the operator’s resource estimate for the primary target was 2.6-10.3 million standard cu m of recoverable oil equivalent.
In the secondary exploration target, the preliminary estimate is 1.3-1.8 million standard cu m of recoverable oil equivalent (8-12 MMboe). Before the appraisal well, the secondary target had estimated resources of 0.9-1.5 million standard cu m of recoverable oil equivalent.
Geological information
The primary exploration target for well 6507/2-7 S was to prove gas in reservoir rocks in the Tilje formation in the Lower Jurassic. The secondary exploration target was to prove gas in reservoir rocks in the Middle Jurassic (the Garn formation) and in reservoir rocks in the Upper Cretaceous (Lysing formation).
In the primary exploration target, the well encountered gas in the Tilje formation, which is 133 m thick, 43 m of which in sandstone rocks with moderate to poor reservoir quality. The gas-water contact was not encountered.
A successful production test was conducted in technical sidetrack 6507/2-7 S T2 in the upper part of the Tilje formation. The maximum production rate was 300,000 standard cu m per flow day through a 20/64-in. opening.
In the secondary target in the Garn formation, the well encountered a 30-m gas column in sandstone rocks totaling around 14 m with poor reservoir quality. In the other secondary exploration target, well 6507/2-7 S encountered a gas column of around 8 m in the Lysing formation in sandstone rocks totaling 65 m with very good reservoir quality. The gas-water contacts were not encountered in any of the formations.
Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out and the well has been temporarily plugged.
The rig will proceed to production license 932 where Aker BP ASA is the operator.
Aker BP ASA is operator of production license 261 with 70% interest. Harbour Energy holds the remaining 30%.