New oil & gas find in North Sea ends up ‘not profitable’ due to price headwinds

After making another oil and gas discovery in the North Sea, thanks to drilling activities one of Odfjell Drilling’s sixth-generation semi-submersible rigs carried out off the coast of Norway, Equinor, a Norwegian state-owned energy giant, has emphasized that the development of this discovery does not meet its profitability criteria in the current price environment.

Equinor and its partner, DNO, recently used Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig to drill a wildcat well 35/10-13 S in production license 827 SB, awarded in the awards in predefined areas (APA) in 2022.

Located in the northern part of the North Sea, the well 35/10-13 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,813 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Sele Formation in the Eocene/Palaeocene. The water depth at the site is 365 meters.

According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD), the primary drilling objective was the Angel prospect, however, the preliminary estimates indicate the discovery is between 0.1-0.5 million standard cubic meters (sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent, which is not profitable given current price assumptions.

In addition, the well had another objective to delineate the 35/10-9 (Heisenberg) discovery. As a result, oil was proven, which confirms the discovery size of 3.8-8.9 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil, corresponding to 24-56 million barrels.

The 2009-built Deepsea Atlantic is a sixth-generation deepwater and harsh environment semi-submersible, dual derrick, dynamic-positioned rig of enhanced GVA 7500 design for which Odfjell Drilling and Equinor inked contracts last year related to two letters of intent from March 2023.

The activities at the exploration well are seen as a continuation of the work in the area, where the production license 827 S was awarded in 2015 APA. The exploration drilling on the Gabriel (35/10-6) prospect did not bring more hydrocarbons as it turned out to be dry. The operations at the Heisenberg discovery included an appraisal well earlier this year.

While the primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Eocene reservoir rocks in the Balder Formation, the secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Eocene reservoir rocks in the Hordaland Group, and to delineate the 35/10-9 (Heisenberg) discovery, also in Eocene reservoir rocks in the Hordaland Group.

The well 35/10-13 S encountered a one-meter gas column in the Balder Formation in sandstone layers totaling 56 meters with good to very good reservoir quality, with the estimated location of the gas/water contact between 1,709 and 1714 meters below sea level.

On the other hand, the well 35/10-13 S encountered gas in thin and heterogeneous sandstone layers in the secondary exploration target, totaling 6 meters with poor to moderate reservoir quality in the Hordaland Group. The gas/water contact was not encountered.

In addition, the well also encountered a six-meter oil column in the Hordaland Group in the interval for the 35/10-9 (Heisenberg) discovery in sandstone layers totaling six meters with moderate to good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Equinor’s discovery, despite not being seen as profitable in the current investment climate, comes a week after the Norwegian giant made another one in the North Sea, which it plans to assess due to other prospectivity in the area.