Lundin looking to sanction North Sea discoveries before end of 2022

Following successful completion of appraisal wells on the Lille Prinsen discovery, north of the Edvard Grieg field in the North Sea, Lundin will now work to submit a plan for development and operation (PDO) by the end of 2022.

Lundin has concluded the drilling of wildcat well 16/1-34 S and appraisal well 16/1-34 A on the 16/1-29 S (Lille Prinsen) oil and gas discovery.

Lundin received a drilling permit from the Norwegian authorities for the 16/1-34 A well at the beginning of July 2021.

The two wells have confirmed a combined updated gross resource range of 12 – 60 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) and the discoveries are being matured for possible project sanction before the end of 2022, the oil company said on Thursday.

The wells in PL167 on the Utsira High, 15 km north of the Edvard Grieg platform, aimed to verify the hydrocarbon potential in the Lille Prinsen discovery, in order to progress the discovery towards a potential development. The 16/1-34 A well was seeking to prove reservoir and production properties in the carbonate sediments of the Permian aged, Zechstein formation and well 16/1-34 S was targeting an oil leg in the Paleocene aged, Heimdal formation.

According to Lundin, results confirmed a gross resource range of 10-50 MMboe in the Lille Prinsen discovery, where a drill stem test proved very good reservoir properties, with 33 API oil, tested at a facilities constrained rate of 3,580 barrels of oil per day. A further discovery estimated at 2-10 MMboe was made in the Heimdal formation, with a 7m oil column in a 50m thick sand package, with good reservoir quality.

The wells were drilled by the Deepsea Stavanger semi-submersible drilling rig. Lundin Energy is the operator of PL167 with a 40 per cent working interest and the partners are Equinor Energy with 30 per cent, Spirit Energy Norway with 20 per cent, and Aker BP with 10 per cent working interests.

Lundin and its partners will now progress development studies in order to potentially submit a plan for development and operation (PDO) by the end of 2022, to meet the temporary tax incentives put in place by the Norwegian Government in July 2020.

With the additional discovery in the Heimdal formation and further prospectivity in the surrounding licence areas, there is potential to add additional phases of development from further discoveries.

The Deepsea Stavanger rig will now proceed to the Merckx exploration prospect in PL981, immediately to the southwest of the Solveig field also on the Utsira High.

The well 16/4-12 will target Paleocene aged sandstones and Permian aged carbonates, estimated to hold gross unrisked prospective resources of 152 MMboe. Lundin Energy is the operator with a 60 per cent working interest and Aker BP is the partner, with a 40 per cent working interest