Lundin Norway has agreed the final investment decision to proceed with an extended well test on the Rolvsnes weathered and fractured basement discovery on the Utsira High.
The Rolvsnes oil discovery is located on the southern side of the Edvard Grieg field and is a fractured and weathered granite basement reservoir.
The Rolvsnes extended well test (EWT) will be conducted through a 3 km subsea tie-back of the existing Rolvsnes horizontal well to the Edvard Grieg platform, with first oil scheduled in the second quarter 2021.
The project will be implemented together with the Solveig project to take advantage of contracting and implementation synergies.
This reservoir type has not previously been developed in Norway, although it has been developed successfully elsewhere in the world, and an EWT on Rolvsnes is required to better understand the long-term reservoir performance.
To further assess the potential of the basement trend on the Utsira High, an exploration well will be drilled on the Goddo prospect located in the adjacent PL815 licence in 2019. The combined Rolvsnes and Goddo prospective area is estimated to contain gross potential resources of more than 250 MMboe.
Nick Walker , CEO of Lundin, said: “ The sanction of an EWT on fractured and weathered basement is a first for the Norwegian Continental Shelf and a significant step forward for Lundin Petroleum as we look to unlock the significant resource potential, sitting right in between our Edvard Grieg platform and the giant Johan Sverdrup field. Coordinating this EWT with the Solveig tie-back development will realise cost synergies and is another important step in extending the plateau production at the Greater Edvard Grieg Area. ”