Lundin Petroleum has spudded an exploration well on the Gohta prospect as it continues the hunt for oil in the Barents Sea.
The site, 35km north of the Snøhvit off northern Norway, was looking for oil in two separate targets – but Lundin confirmed only one of them came up positive.
A 75m oil column, beneath a 25m gas cap, was found in a perian target 2,365m below mean sea level by the semi-submersible rig Transocean Arctic.
However, the second target – in a Trassic sandstone formation – proved to contain water.
Flow tests will now be carried out on the Permian find, which has been cored and logged.