Statoil wildcat bites dust

Wildcat is first drilled by Statoil in PL386

Seadrill's West Alpha drilling facility

Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 386, has completed drilling of wildcat well 6610/10-1. The well is dry.

The well was drilled about 120km northwest of Sandnessjøen and about 90km northeast of the Norne field.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Båt Group) in the Helgeland Basin, where eight wildcat wells have been drilled in and around the basin. The play in the area has not been confirmed.

The well encountered reservoir rocks in the Båt Group with good reservoir quality as expected.

Data has been acquired and samples have been taken.

This is the first exploration well in production licence 386. The licence was awarded in APA 2005.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2988m below the sea surface, and was terminated in Upper Triassic reservoir rocks ("Grey Beds"). Water depth is 244m. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 6610/10-1 was drilled by the West Alpha drilling facility, which will now proceed to the North Sea to drill production wells on the Balder field where ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway AS is the operator.