Aker BP (OSLO:AKRBP) has made a discovery during wildcat drilling near the Skarv field in the northern Norwegian Sea.
Aker BP has concluded drilling at its wildcat well 6507/3-15 on production licence 941, around 8 miles northeast of the Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea, according to filings by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).
The first well on this licence, it was drilled in water depth of 348 metres by Odjfell’s Deepsea Nordkapp semi-submersible rig, with a primary exploration target of proving petroleum in Fangst Group reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic.
A secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in the Båt Group reservoir rocks, from the Lower Jurassic.
According to the NPD, the well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,197 metres below sea level. It encountered an oil and gas column of around 115 metres across reservoir groups, 40 metres of which was in sandstone layers with “good reservoir quality” in the Fangst Group, and about 55 metres in sandstone layers with moderate to good reservoir quality in the Båt Group.
An additional 100 metres of sandstone layers was found in the Båt Group with moderate to good reservoir quality, with gas/oil and oil/water contacts encountered at 1,980 metres and 2,021 metres below sea level.
Preliminary estimates put the size of the discovery between 1.7 and 5.7 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalent – or between 10.6 million and 36 million barrels.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out. It will now be plugged and abandoned.
The licence partners – Aker BP (80%) and PGNiG Upstream (20%) – will consider producing the discovery via the Skarv field, the NPD said.
Also operated by Aker BP, Skarv has been in production since 2013 via a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) and has one of the world’s largest offshore gas processing plants on this type of facility.
Partners in the development include Equinor, Winstershall Dea and PGNiG.
Recently the start up of two phases of the nearby Ærfugl development has boosted production to a plateau of over 170,000 bpd.
Another small discovery – Gråsel – was brought online last year, with “several other discoveries” being matured in the coming years, all of which would use available capacity at the FPSO.
Aker BP hopes to make the Skarv FPSO a hub for further discoveries in the surrounding area, with a view to increasing production and out 2040.
Meanwhile, the Deepsea Nordkapp will now move to drill another wildcat well – 6507/3-16 on the same production licence.