OMV discovers gas in Norwegian Sea, to consider tieback to Aasta Hansteen

OMV (Norge) AS made a gas discovery in production license 1194 in the Norwegian Sea estimated to hold recoverable volumes of 30-140 MMboe. The partners will further evaluate the discovery as a potential subsea tieback to the Equinor-operated Aasta Hansteen spar platform, potentially extending the life of the gas hub, the company said in a release Aug. 23.

Exploration well 6605/6-1 S (Haydn/Monn prospect) was drilled 300 km west of the Norwegian mainland at a water depth of 1,064 m. The Transocean Norge drilling rig drilled the well to respective vertical and measured depths of 4,641 and 5,123 m subsea, according to Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) data. The well was terminated in the Nise formation in the Upper Cretaceous.

The gas discovery is about 65 km from the existing infrastructure of the Polarled pipeline and Aasta Hansteen field. 

The primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks in the Springar formation, and secondarily in the Nise formation, also in the Upper Cretaceous, NOD said.

In the primary exploration target, the well encountered a gas column of around 20 m, of which 13 m was in sandstone reservoir rocks with moderate to good reservoir quality. The gas-water contact was not encountered.

Discoveries were also made in two other levels, where the size of the volumes is uncertain. Gas-filled sandstone layers totaling around 11 m were encountered in the lower part of the Springar formation and a gas column of around 5 m was discovered in the secondary exploration target in the Nise formation, in sandstone reservoir rocks with moderate reservoir quality.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. The well has been plugged.

OMV aims to increase the share of gas in its production mix to about 60% by 2030 to serve as a reliable gas supplier in Europe, said Berislav Gašo, OMV executive vice-president.

OMV is the operator of the license with 40% working interest. Partners are Vår Energi ASA (30%) and Inpex Idemitsu Norge AS (30%).