Drilling operations have begun at the Equinor-operated Ginny exploration well in the Norwegian Sea.
Licence partner OKEA made the announcement on 3 January, confirming that the West Hercules rig had begun drilling exploration well 6407/9-13.
The Ginny well is being drilled at Block 6407/9, on production license 1060, at water depths of 270metres. It will target mean resources of 68 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Estimates made earlier last year suggested the operation would take around 27 days.
The well is targeting both an Upper Jurassic (Ginny) and a Middle Jurassic (Hermine) prospect, located between the Galtvort and Hasselmus discoveries, OKEA said.
OKEA holds a 40% working interest in the licence alongside operator Equinor (31%), Chrysaor Norge (20%) and Longboat Energy (9%).
The licence was awarded during the APA 2019 licensing round, and is located north west of the OKEA-operated Draugen field.
‘’This is the first of three exploration wells we will be drilling the coming year, all focussed on near-field exploration near our Draugen and Gjøa producing fields,’’ explained OKEA SVP of subsurface and wells, Andrew McCann.
“This type of exploration is core to OKEA’s strategy of identifying upside potential for our producing assets and a discovery in this area could be developed rapidly through use of existing infrastructure,” he said.
OKEA said it would make further announcements if and when hydrocarbons are encountered, and/or on completion of drilling operations.
The company, which focuses on mid-to-late-life Norwegian assets, is targeting production of 18,000-19,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2022.
Ginny/Hermine is also the fourth in a seven-well Norwegian campaign for venture partner Longboat.
Together with several partners, Longboat embarked on the campaign in mid-2021, which saw the drilling of the Rodhette prospect – in which it holds a 20% share – followed by Egyptian Vulture (15%) and Mugnetind (20%).
While the latter was deemed non-commercial, the former two prospects appear promising, with Egyptian Vulture judged to be a “material discovery with substantial upside” according to a November 2021 investor presentation.
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