Equinor discovers oil, gas near Fram field
Equinor made an oil and gas discovery in production license PL 090 near Fram field in the Troll area of the North Sea. The size of the discovery, which contains both oil and gas (slightly more than half natural gas) is estimated at 13-28 MMboe, the operator said in a release Nov. 14.
The licensees are considering tying the Rhombi discovery to future or existing infrastructure in the area. The Fram axis (Fram, Fram-H-Nord, Byrding) is routed to the Troll C platform for processing and export.
Oil, gas discovery data
Wildcat wells 35/11-30 S and 35/11-30 A, the 22nd and 23rd in the license, were drilled by the Deepsea Atlantic rig in 355 m of water, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate reported in a separate release. The objective was to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Sognefjord formation. The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Fensfjord formation.
Well 35/11-30 S was drilled to 2,232 m TVD and 2,358 m MD subsea. Well 35/11-30 A was drilled to 2,266 m TVD and 2,650 m MD subsea. Both wells were terminated in the Heather formation in the Middle Jurassic.
Well 35/11-30 S encountered a 41-m gas-filled sandstone layer and a 9-m aquiferous sandstone layer in the Sognefjord formation, both of which had good reservoir properties. The gas-water contact was not encountered. In the secondary exploration target, the well encountered a 72-m aquiferous sandstone layer with good reservoir properties in the Fensfjord formation.
Well 35/11-30 A proved a 43-m gas column over a 6-m oil column in the Sognefjord formation. The reservoir was 110 m thick, with good reservoir properties. The gas-oil contact was encountered at 1,961 m and the oil-water contact at a vertical depth of 1,967 m subsea. In the secondary exploration target, the well encountered a 12-m oil column in a 100-m sandstone reservoir in the Fensfjord formation, with good reservoir properties. The remaining 88 m were aquiferous. The oil-water contact was not encountered.
The wells were not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out. The wells have been permanently plugged.
Equinor Energy AS is operator of PL 090 (45%) with partners Vår Energi ASA (40%) and INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS (15%).
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).