MOL hits dust in North Sea well

MOL Norge, a Norwegian unit of the Hungarian oil company MOL, is in the process of concluding the drilling of a wildcat well in the North Sea offshore Norway. The well is dry. 

The well 2/6-6 S has been drilled about 45 km east of the Valhall and Ekofisk fields and 20 km north of the Norwegian-Danish border in the Mandal High area.

It is located in production license 860 where MOL Norge is the operator and Lundin and Petoro are partners with a 40% and 20% interests, respectively. The well was drilled with the Rowan Viking jack-up drilling rig. MOL received safety consent to use the Rowan Viking rig for this well in late August 2018 and the drilling was supposed to start in September.

The well targeted the Oppdal and Driva prospects. They were both dry.

Lundin said on Wednesday that the main objective of the well was to test the reservoir properties and hydrocarbon potential of the Paleocene sandstones in the Oppdal prospect and of the deeper Rotliegendes sandstones in the Driva prospect, located in the Mandal High area. The well encountered the expected Paleocene and Rotliegendes intervals but with no hydrocarbons present. The second Mandal High area dual target well, Vinstra/Otta on the adjacent PL539 license, will be drilled in 2019, Lundin said.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said that the well encountered an approximately 34-meter thick sandstone layer in the Intra Våle formation with good reservoir quality. In the Rotliegend group, the well encountered 105 meters with relatively tight sandstone.

This is the first exploration well in production license 860, which was awarded in APA 2016.

The well 2/6-6 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 3576 meters and 3843 meters measured depth below the sea surface, and it was terminated in the Rotliegend group. Water depth at the site is 69 meters.

The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Offshore Energy Today Staff