Equinor's North Sea Wildcat Comes Up Dry

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has completed the drilling of wildcat well 31/2-24, drilled about three kilometers west of the Troll field in the North Sea, offshore Norway. The well came up dry, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Upper and Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Sognefjord Formation in the Viking Group and the Tarbert, Ness, and Etive formations in the Brent Group.

The secondary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Fensfjord Formation in the Viking Group and Oseberg Formation in the Brent Group.

The well 31/2-24 (prospect name: Litago) encountered the Sognefjord and Fensfjord formations in the Viking Group, with a total thickness of 514 metres, of which 197 metres were sandstone reservoir of moderate to good quality.

The Tarbert, Ness, Etive and Oseberg formations were encountered in the Brent Group. The Tarbert, Ness and Etive formations have a thickness of about 106 metres, of which 41 metres were sandstone reservoir with poor to good quality. The Oseberg Formation is about 31 meters thick, of which 25 meters were sandstone reservoir of moderate to good quality.

Data acquisition was carried out and the well is dry, the NPD said.

This is the sixth exploration well in production licence 923, which was awarded in APA 2017.

The well 31/2-24 was drilled to a vertical depth of 2558 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Drake Formation in Lower Jurassic. The water depth at the site is 330 meters. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well 31/2-24 was drilled by Odfjell Drilling's Deepsea Stavanger semi-submersible drilling rig, which will now proceed to drill wildcat well 30/11-15 in production licence 035 in the North Sea.

Categories: Drilling North Sea Activity Drilling Rigs

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