After no luck in June, Norwegian player makes oil & gas discovery in North Sea

After having no luck with an exploration well in mid-June, Norwegian oil and gas company Wellesley Petroleum has proven oil and gas in another well located in the North Sea.

Wellesley Petroleum found oil and gas in the Gnomoria Appraisal (35/10-12 S) well located about 100 kilometers southwest of Florø, the first appraisal well to be drilled in production license 1184 S, awarded in APA 2022.

The well was drilled by COSL Drilling Europe’s COSL Promoter exploration rig.

Preliminary estimations of the size of the discovery range between 0.8 to 4 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent (Sm³ o.e.), corresponding to between 5 to 25 million barrels o.e.

According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD), Gnomoria is located in an area with multiple discoveries and the licensees are considering a tie-back to existing infrastructure in the area.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic sandstones in the Heather Formation, and was drilled upflank where reservoir quality was considered to be better for delineation of the Gnomoria discovery from 2018.

Well 35/10-12 S encountered an 11-meter gas column and an 18-meter oil column in the Heather Formation, with gas/oil contact encountered 3,239 meters below sea level. It was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,346 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Heather Formation.

The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned, NOD stated.

To remind, in mid-June, it was reported that Wellesley Petroleum had found no hydrocarbons in an exploration well drilled using the COSL Promoter rig in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. NOD granted the company a drilling permit for the well 35/11-29 S (Toppand øst) in January 2024 to spud a wildcat well in production license 248 C, which was awarded on April 9, 2013 and is valid until June 4, 2035. This was carved out of production license 248 in 2013.