Norwegian oil and gas company Vår Energi has made an oil and gas discovery just north of the Duva field in the North Sea, using Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible drilling rig.
The discovery was made in well 36/7-5 S Cerisa and sidetracks 36/7-5 A, B and C, in production license 636, 50 kilometers southwest of Florø.
The license is operated by Vår Energi with 30% working interest, with partners INPEX Idemitsu Norge (30%), PGNiG Upstream Norway (30%), and Sval Energi (10%).
According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, the licensees are considering tying the discovery back to existing infrastructure nearby.
Production licence 636, which was awarded in 2012, already covers the Duva field. This is the second exploration campaign to be conducted in the license.
The wells were drilled using the Deepsea Yantai rig, a harsh environment semi-submersible drilling rig able to operate at - 22℃.
The rig can operate at a water depth of up to 500 meters and drill wells down to a depth of 8000 meters.
It is owned by CIMC Raffles and managed by Odfjell Drilling.
This discovery is the fifth made by Vår Energi in Cretaceous plays in the area around the Gjøa field. The company also operates the nearby Gjøa and Duva fields.
“The results from Vår Energi’s exploration activity are important for area development, and could also have an impact on the lifetime of the Gjøa facility,” said Wenche Tjelta Johansen, Norwegian Offshore Directorate’s assistant director.