Swedish oil and gas firm PA Resources said today it had found oil offshore Denmark.
The firm said the sweet, light oil discovery, made while trying to assess a chalk target, showed there was in fact prospectivity in a layer of Miocene sandstone which could spread further in its Lille John prospect in licence 12/06.
Chief executive Bo Askvik said: “This is a very encouraging result at a stratigraphic level which has not generally been explored in Denmark.”
The firm said the discovery, in Miocene sandstone in the Lille John prospect, had found “modest reservoir development” with sweet, light oil.
Mr Askvik said: “We are as operator very pleased to have made this discovery of high quality oil, especially at such a shallow reservoir depth.
“The seismic imaging of the Miocene clearly reveals the distribution of the oil-bearing reservoir and shows additional prospectivity at the Miocene level elsewhere within License 12/06.”
The Lille John prospect is about 7 kilometres south of Gorm Field and 8 kilometres from PA Resources’ gas and condensate discovery at the Broder Tuck prospect in July.
It will now be sidetracked to a chalk target.
PA Resources said: “The well encountered modest reservoir development as expected at this location marginal to the seismic anomaly, but has confirmed the anomaly to represent oil-bearing sandstone, with an apparent column height in excess of 300 meters.
“The Lille John well was unable to penetrate the main chalk target or the underlying Middle Jurassic secondary target due to an unexpected pore pressure regime and extensive fracturing at chalk level.
“As a result, the well is now being sidetracked to a revised location with the aim to try again to penetrate the chalk target and establish its fluid content and reservoir development.”
PA Resources UK holds 64% in the licence with Nordsøfonden (Danish North Sea Fund) holding 20%, Danoil Exploration 8% and Spyker Energy 8%.