Statoil hits gas at Valemon field

Statoil Petroleum has made a gas discovery after drilling an exploration well at the Valemon field in the North Sea, two years after Valemon came on stream. 

The well 34/11-6 S was drilled in production licence 193 D, from the Valemon platform, 160 km northwest of Bergen. The discovery is called Valemon West.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the objective of the well was to prove petroleum in the Middle Jurassic (the Brent group).

The well 34/11-6 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 4337 meters below the sea surface by the West Elara drilling rig, which is permanently stationed at the Valemon platform. It was terminated in the Drake formation in the Lower to Middle Jurassic. Water depth at the site is 133 meters.

The directorate said that the well encountered two gas columns of about 80 and 35 meters in the Tabert and Ness formations, respectively. There were 50 meters of sandstone with moderate to good reservoir quality in the Tabert formation and 10 meters of sandstone with poor reservoir quality in the Ness formation.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 3 – 8 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents. The well will be completed and will start production from the Valemon platform, the NPD said.

“This is an important discovery for the further development of Valemon,” says Gunnar Nakken, Statoil’s senior vice president for the operations west cluster, which covers the company’s Bergen-operated fields.

“These new reserves can be put on stream immediately and will add considerable value. The discovery proves that there are still good opportunities in the North Sea, an area we know well, and its infrastructure is extensive,” says Nakken.

The Valemon Unit partners are Statoil Petroleum (operator, 53.775%), Petoro (30%), Centrica Resources (Norge) (13%) and A/S Norske Shell (3.225%).

Offshore Energy Today Staff