Norwegian oil giant Statoil has said a well on its Aldous Major North prospect has “limited reservoir quality”.
The well, drilled by the Transocean Leader with partners Petoro, Det norske oljeselskap and Lundin Norway, proved an oil column of up to eight metres, said Statoil.
The firm said: “Due to the limited reservoir quality, the partnership will consider further exploration drilling on Aldous Major North in order to clarify the structure’s potential.”
The disappointment comes after last month’s announcement of the largest oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea since the 1980s after Statoil said the Aldous and Avaldsnes discoveries were linked.
The Aldous Major North well was 12kilometres north of the Aldous Major South discovery.
“Statoil has previously communicated that the combined Aldous Major South and Avaldsnes discoveries may constitute an oil structure of between 500 and 1,200 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents and we stand firm on this estimate,” says Gro Haatvedt, Statoil’s senior vice president for exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The Transocean Leader is to return to Aldous Major South to drill another appraisal well.
“An appraisal well on Aldous Major South demonstrates that we have great faith in the area’s potential and that the partnership would like to see speedy clarification of the total resource potential in order to secure the rapid development of this discovery,” added Mr Haatvedt.
Aldous Major North and Aldous Major South are located in production licence 265, where Statoil is operator (40%) along with partners Petoro (30%), Det norske oljeselskap (20%) and Lundin (10%).