Wintershall Norge AS, operator of production licence 511, is about to complete drilling of wildcat well 6406/6-3.
The well was drilled about 25 kilometres south of the Tyrihans field and about 15 kilometres northeast of the 6406/9-1 Linnorm discovery.
The primary and secondary exploration targets for the well were to prove petroleum in Middle to Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Ile, Tofte and Tilje formations). It encountered the Ile, Tofte and Tilje formations with better reservoir rocks and reservoir quality than expected, but the formations are water-bearing.
Gas was also encountered in a 14-metre gross column in the Garn formation in Middle Jurassic. Preliminary calculation of the size of the discovery is between 0.55 and 0.62 billion Sm3 of recoverable gas. The size of the discovery is not commercially interesting at this time.
The well was not formation tested, but data acquisition and sampling were carried out.
6406/6-3 is the first exploration well in production licence 511. The licence was awarded in APA 2008.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 4395 metres below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Åre formation in the Lower Jurassic.
Water depth at the site is 243 metres. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.
6406/6-3 was drilled by the Transocean Arctic drilling facility, which will proceed to production licence 492 in the Barents Sea to drill wildcat well 7120/1-3, where Lundin Norway AS is the operator.
Press Release, June 21, 2013; Image: NPD