MOL Norge, a subsidiary of Hungary's MOL, has discovered oil and gas in its production license 820s, at Evra and Iving prospect in the North Sea, offshore Norway.
The company said Wednesday it was in the process of completing the drilling of exploration well 25/8-19 S and sidetrack 25/8-19 A.
The wells were drilled near the Balder and Ringhorne fields in the central part of the Norwegian section of the North Sea, about 200 kilometers west of Stavanger.
Preliminary evaluation of the main discovery - Iving - shows recoverable resources between 12-71 mmboe with light oil at gravity API 40.
"The discovery is consistent with MOL’s stated strategy of replenishing reserves through a combination of exploration and acquisitions," MOL said.
The main borehole and two sidetracks were drilled in 126m of water to a maximum depth of 2,652m below sea level, and all were concluded in basement rocks.
The main discovery, the Triassic Skagerrak sandstone formation, was successfully tested producing a combined oil and gas maximum flow rate of 550.6 cubic meters/day (3,463 barrels of oil equivalent per day) as limited by surface equipment. The wells also discovered smaller volumes of oil and gas in several other formations, MOL said.
The drilling operations were carried out using Odfjell Drilling's semi-submersible drilling rig Deepsea Bergen, which will now proceed to the shipyard at Ågotnes west of Bergen for periodic classification.
According to Lundin Norway, MOL's partner in the offshore block, the discoveries will now be evaluated for further appraisal drilling with the aim to develop the discovery as a tie-back to existing nearby infrastructure. Follow-up prospectivity exists in the license and will be evaluated in light of this discovery, Lundin said.