OMV finds oil near Oselvar field in southern North Sea

Norwegian arm of Austrian oil and gas company OMV has found oil located six kilometres south of the Oselvar field in the southern North Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Monday that the wildcat well 1/3-13, located in production license 970, was drilled near the Ipswich oil discovery from 2008, 300 kilometres southwest of Stavanger.

The well was not formation-tested, but data acquisition has been carried out. This is the first exploration well in the license. It was awarded in APA2018.

OMV is the operator of the licence with an ownership interest of 60 per cent. Other licensees are Petoro and Neptune Energy with 20 per cent each.

OMV’s objective was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Tor Formation from the Late Cretaceous Age. The well was drilled about 100 metres into water-bearing chalk in the Tor Formation, with good to very good porosity, but low permeability.

The well also encountered a three-metre-thick petroleum-bearing layer in the Ekofisk Formation from the Palaeocene, which is probably residual oil.

The well encountered oil in an eight-metre-thick sandstone layer in the Forties Formation and a total of three metres of sandstone in the Andrew Formation, both from the Palaeocene Age. The oil/water contact was not proven, and the sandstones are of moderate to very good reservoir quality.

According to the NPD, OMV will have to undertake more detailed studies to determine the potential connection between the proven resources in the Forties and Andrew Formations in the well and the Ipswich oil discovery.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 3285 metres below sea level and was terminated in the upper part of the Tor Formation. Water depth at the site is 71 metres. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 1/3-13 was drilled by the Maersk Integrator drilling facility, which will now drill development well 16/1-D-13 on the Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea, where Aker BP is the operator.

It is worth reminding that OMV received a drilling permit for the wildcat well back in early June. Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) gave consent to the company to use the Maersk Integrator rig for this well back in March.