Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor, formerly Statoil, and partners Lundin and Spirit Energy have struck oil in the PL 167 licence at the Utsira High in the North Sea with a discovery estimated to contain 15-35 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents.
The wildcat well 16/1-29S is located in the central part of the North Sea and was drilled by the Deepsea Bergen drilling rig, which is now scheduled for appraisal drilling duties at another nearby well operated by Equinor, 15/3-10 in production licence 025.
“We are very pleased to announce the first Equinor discovery,” said Nicholas Ashton, Equinor’s senior vice president, Exploration, Norway & UK, said: “This is a good discovery which we expect will be commercial. In addition, the results from the drilling indicate an upside potential in this discovery.”
The Lille Prinsen well is located 200 kilometers west of Stavanger and north-west of the Johan Sverdrup field. The discovery in the well’s main target is estimated to contain 15-35 million barrels of recoverable oil, Equinor said.
An additional discovery was also made with “very good reservoir quality over the main discovery, but the volume in this discovery has not been evaluated. The well also appraised the 2004 gas discovery Verdandi and the estimate of 4-11 million recoverable oil equivalent is maintained. Further work will determine whether these two shallower reservoirs can be commercially developed.”
“This discovery has good quality and adds new volumes in an important area of the North Sea. We also see a substantial upside in the licence that we now aim to clarify as soon as possible together with our partners,” said Ashton.
When the full potential of the production licence has been clarified, development will be considered towards the existing infrastructure in the area.
