Equinor drills dry well near Tordis field

Norwegian oil major Equinor has drilled a dry well near the Tordis field in the North Sea offshore Norway.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said that Equinor, operator of production licence 089, concluded the drilling of wildcat well 34/7-37 S.

The well was drilled about four kilometres west of the Tordis field and about 200 kilometres northwest of Bergen.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Upper Jurassic (the Munin segment in the Draupne Formation).

According to the NPD, Equinor did not encounter reservoir rocks in the well and classified it as dry. Equinor did carry out Data acquisition on the well.

This is the 42nd exploration well in production licence 089. The licence was awarded in the 8th licensing round in 1984.

Equinor has an ownership interest of 41.5 per cent. Other licensees are Petoro AS (30 per cent), Vår Energi (16.1 per cent), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6 per cent), and Wintershall Dea Norge (2.8 per cent).

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,754 metres and a measured depth of 2,755 metres below sea level. The well was terminated in the Heather Formation in the Upper Jurassic. Water depth at the site is 142 metres. The well has now been plugged and abandoned.

The rig used for the drilling of well 34/7-37 S was the DeepSea Atlantic, which will now drill the top hole in production well 34/10-O-3 H in production licence 050 in the northern North Sea, also operated by Equinor.

The Deepsea Atlantic is a sixth generation deepwater and harsh environment semi-submersible rig capable of operating at water depths of up to 3,000 meters.

It is worth noting that the NPD issued a drilling permit to Equinor for the 34/7-37 S in mid-September. The drilling programme for the well concerned the drilling of a wildcat well.