Westwood Global Energy reports that there were three active exploration wells and one active appraisal well at 22 August.
Since the last report, two exploration wells have spudded and five E&A wells have completed on the NCS.
North Sea
The North Sea saw one exploration well spud and two exploration wells complete in August.
The Aker BP-operated 30/12-2 Nipa exploration well spudded on the 14 August with the Deepsea Stavanger rig.
The well is targeting pre-drill resources of 35 – 115 mmboe in the Middle Jurassic Tarbert and Ness Formations of the Brent Group.
The well is testing a new hydrocarbon migration pathway onto the Bjørgvin Arch from the Viking Graben. The well is expected to complete in 28 days if successful.
Lundin spudded its Goddo exploration well 16/5-8 on 8 July with the Leiv Eiriksson rig targeting pre-drill resources of 112 mmboe in fractured basement on the Utsira High, close to the operator’s Edvard Grieg field.
The well encountered a 20m (66ft) oil column in fractured Basement with preliminary resources of 1 – 10 mmboe according to Lundin.
It has been reported that there is upside in the area and further refinement of the discovery is expected after an EWT of the Rolvsnes discovery.
The well has been plugged and abandoned.
Aker BP’s 24/9-13 Rumpetroll exploration well was spudded on 16 June with the Deepsea Nordkapp targeting pre-drill resources of 45 – 148 mmboe in the Eocene injectite play.
The well encountered a 3m (10ft) gas column in the Eocene injectites with traces of oil in the underlying Paleocene Balder Formation sandstones.
The well was sidetracked on 17 July and encountered a 40m (131ft) gas column in Eocene injectites including 7m (23ft) of good reservoir quality sandstones.
Preliminary resources are estimated at 23 – 64 bcf. The sidetrack was completed on 29 July.
Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian Sea saw one exploration well spud and two exploration wells complete in August.
Equinor spud its 6407/3-2 S Lanterna exploration well on 6 August with the West Hercules rig. The well is targeting oil in the Middle – Lower Jurassic Fangst and Båt Groups on the western Trøndelag Platform with secondary prospectivity in Upper Triassic fluvial channel sandstones.
The well is testing a new migration pathway from the Halten Terrace across the Bremstein Fault Zone onto the Trøndelag Platform. The well is expected to complete in 45 – 60 days.
On 19 July, Aker BP spudded exploration well 6608/6-1 with the Deepsea Stavanger rig targeting pre-drill gas resources equivalent to 63 – 130 mmboe in Permian carbonates within the frontier Vågar prospect.
The well encountered 285m (935ft) of Permian Zechstein Group carbonates that are partially tight and partially poor reservoir quality, with 4m (13ft) of moderate reservoir quality carbonates.
The reservoir was water wet and the well was abandoned on 11 August.
Cairn spudded its Upper Jurassic Godalen exploration well 6608/11-9 on 13 July with the Transocean Arctic rig, targeting prospective resources of 90 mmboe in Upper Jurassic Rogn Formation sandstones.
The well failed to encounter the Rogn Formation, instead encountering 40m (118ft) of sandstone in the Upper Jurassic Melke Formation, however the reservoir was water wet. The well was abandoned on 5 August.
Equinor spudded its Ørn prospect 6507/2-5 S exploration well on 23 July targeting the Middle – Lower Jurassic with pre-drill resources of 8 – 40 mmboe, which in the success case will be tied back to the Skarv field. There is secondary potential in the Cretaceous.
On 31 May, OMV and partners DNO, Equinor and Spirit Energy spudded appraisal well 6506/11-11 S with the Deepsea Bergen rig targeting the Middle Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Iris and Hades discovery made in 2018 with well 6506/11-10.
Current mid case resources are estimated at 639 bcf gas and 26 mmbbl liquids (133 mmboe).
The initial well is expected to have duration of between 75 and 120 days, depending on the result.
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea saw one exploration well complete in August.
Equinor’s Sputnik exploration well 7324/6-1 spudded on 18 June with the West Hercules rig.
The well targeted the Upper Triassic Snadd Formation sands with a secondary objective in the Middle Jurassic Stø Formation.
The well encountered a 15m (49ft) oil column in poor reservoir quality sandstones of the Snadd Formation.
Further poor reservoir quality sandstones in the Snadd Formation and good reservoir quality sandstones of the Stø Formation were water wet. Preliminary resources were estimated at 20 – 65 mmboe by Equinor.
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