Statoil completes drilling program off Newfoundland and Labrador

Statoil ASA said it completed a nine-well drilling program in 19 months in a frontier area offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. The effort resulted in two oil discoveries with the Bay de Verde and Baccalieu prospects in the Bay du Nord area (OGJ Online, Aug. 27, 2013).

Statoil said the discoveries add to the resource base for a potential development, but did not provide details on individual wells.

The Seadrill West Hercules semisubmersible drilled the nine wells in the Flemish Pass basin, about 500 km east of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (OGJ Online, May 23, 2016).

The program included four exploratory wells near the 2013 Bay du Nord discovery, and three appraisal wells. Two other exploratory wells were drilled in areas outside the Bay du Nord discovery.

“The appraisal and near-field exploration of the Bay du Nord discovery has reduced key reservoir uncertainties and confirmed that the volumes are within the original volume range of the 300-600 million bbl of recoverable oil initially estimated by Statoil in 2013, but potentially towards the lower end of the range,” the company said.