Neptune finds hydrocarbons in North Sea well

Oil and gas company Neptune Energy and its partners have encountered hydrocarbons at the Hamlet exploration well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. However, it is yet to be confirmed if the well holds commercial volumes.

The Hamlet prospect is located 7 km north of the Gjøa field within the PL153 Licence. Neptune Energy is the operator of the licence and its partners are Petoro (30 per cent), Wintershall Dea (28 per cent), and OKEA (12 per cent).

Neptune secured a drilling permit for the well from the Norwegian authorities in mid-February 2022 and the well was spud in late February, using the Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible rig owned by CIMC and operated by Odfjell Drilling.

In an update on Monday, Neptune said that, having entered the reservoir, located within the Gjøa licence (PL153), logs encountered hydrocarbons and a decision was made to initiate coring.

However, according to the company, the operations in the reservoir section are still at an early stage and it has yet to be confirmed if commercial volumes are present. A contingent side-track may be drilled to further define the extent of the discovery.

Located 58 kilometres west of Florø, Norway, at a water depth of 358 metres, Hamlet is within one of Neptune’s core areas and is close to existing infrastructure. Neptune previously said that, in the event of a commercial discovery, the Hamlet prospect could be tied back to its operated Gjøa platform and produced with less than half the average CO2 emissions on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The drilling programme comprises a main-bore (35/9-16S) with an optional side-track (35/9-16A) based on the outcome of the exploration well.