Germany's Wintershall has made a minor oil discovery on the Syrah exploration well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The operation, in production license 248, included wild cat well 35/11-18, targeting Middle Jurassic rocks in the Brent group, and appraisal well 35/11-18 A, targeting Upper Jurassic rocks in the Heather formation. Both were drilled about 4km west of the Vega Sør field.
In the primary exploration target, the well encountered a 275m of moderate to good reservoir quality in the Brent group. The well proved light oil in the Tarbert and Oseberg formation, with columns of 11m and 3m, respectively.
In the secondary exploration target, the well encountered an 6m hydrocarbon column of good to poor reservoir quality.
Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery are 1-3 MMcum of recoverable oil.
The wells, drilling using the Borgland Dolphin semisubmersible drilling rig in 366m water depth, were the second and third exploration wells in production license 248.
The Borgland Dolphin will now drill appraisal well 25/10-14 in the North Sea in production license 571, where Suncor Energy Norge AS is the operator.