Neptune Energy starts drilling Bue well off Norway

Oil and gas company Neptune Energy has started drilling the Bue well on the offshore Fenja field in the Norwegian Sea.

To remind, Neptune Energy kicked off its Fenja drilling campaign with the spud of the first well in April this year.

Fenja is Neptune’s first operated development project on the Norwegian Shelf and is estimated to contain 97 million boe and will deliver around 40 kboepd at a plateau. Production start-up at Fenja is expected by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Located in the Norwegian Sea 120 kilometres north of Kristiansund and at a water depth of 320 metres, the subsea field will be developed as a tie-back to the Njord-A platform.

The development plan combines two subsea templates with six wells, including three oil producers, two water injectors and one gas injector.

The gas injector will be converted to a gas producer towards the end of field life.

The drilling program for 2020 includes two top holes and two geo-pilots, with an expected duration of 85 days and will be carried out by the Seadrill’s West Phoenix drilling rig.

Neptune Energy said via social media on Tuesday that it spudded another well which is part of the Fenja drilling campaign.

The well named Bue, or formally designated, 6406/12-G-1, was spudded on 1 September 2020. Bue is, along with Pil, one of the discoveries on the Fenja field.

Pil is being developed first, with two subsea templates tied back to the Njord A platform for processing and export.

Director of exploration and development Steinar Meland said: “The well has several objectives – it will act as a pilot for the location of Fenja’s production and injection wells and will support the appraisal of the Bue discovery. It will also enhance our understanding of the Frisbee prospect, which is located just below Bue.

“This is a very exciting and important well for Neptune and the Fenja license and further demonstrates Neptune’s commitment to investing in this region which is a strategically important part of our geographically-diverse and gas-weighted global portfolio”.

Fenja licence is operated by Neptune Energy with a 30 per cent interest. The three partners in the licence are Vår Energi, Suncor, and DNO with 45, 17.5, and 7.5 per cent respectively.