Equinor has made a new discovery in the Troll/Fram area in the northern North Sea, the company revealed in a statement published on its website, which was translated from Norwegian.
Discovery volumes are estimated to range from nine to 35 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to the statement, which notes that both oil and gas have been found. This is the ninth find in 12 attempts in the area since 2019, Equinor highlighted in the statement.
“The licensees consider the find to be commercial and will assess connections with other finds and existing infrastructure in the area,” Equinor said in the statement.
“It’s positive that we can still make these discoveries in an area with good infrastructure for oil and gas,” added Geir Sørtveit, Equinor’s Area Director of Western Exploration and Production, in the statement.
“This means that discoveries can be developed at low cost and with low CO2 emissions,” said the Equinor representative.
Equinor is the operator of the development. Its partners are Vår Energi, INPEX Idemitsu Norge and Neptune Energy Norge. The previous eight discoveries in the region include Echino Sør, Swisher, Røver Nord, Blasto, Toppand, Kveikje, Røver Sør and Heisenberg, Equinor highlighted in the statement.
In a statement sent to Rigzone on Friday, Neptune Energy said it welcomed Equinor’s announcement “about the successful discovery of oil and gas near the Fram field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.”
“We congratulate Equinor on its safe and successful drilling operation, which once again demonstrates the potential in the very prolific Fram area,” Neptune Energy Norway and UK CEO Odin Estensen said in the statement .
“Its proximity to existing infrastructure offers potential opportunities for low-emission, cost-effective development,” Estensen added.
In the statement, Neptune Energy confirmed that the licensees consider the discovery to be commercially viable and said they will consider possible tie-ups with other recent discoveries in the area using existing infrastructure.
In a statement published on its website on Friday, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) highlighted that Equinor had completed the drilling of wells 35/11-26 S and 35/11-26 A about 2.5 miles in the west of the Fram field and 80 miles. northwest of Bergen.
“The primary exploration objective of Wildcat well 35/11-26 S was to test for oil in sandstone in the Late Jurassic Heather Formation and Middle Jurassic Brent Group, as well as to investigate reservoir properties in the Cook Formation from the Early Jurassic,” the NPD noted in the statement.
“Well 35/11-26 S encountered a seven-metre gas column and a 26-metre oil column in the Heather Formation, in sandstone layers totaling 33 meters with reservoir quality of moderate to good. Oil/water contact not found,” the NPD said in the statement.
“The Brent Group and the Cook Formation were water-filled with moderate to good reservoir quality,” he added.
“Pot 35/11-26 A moderate to good reservoir quality sandstones were encountered in the Heather Formation; the reservoir was an aquifer. Oil and gas were also tested in shallower intra-Heather sandstones in both wells,” the NPD continued.
The wells were not formation tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been conducted, NPD said in the statement. The wells are exploration wells 21 and 22 of production license 090, which was awarded in the eighth licensing round in 1984, the NPD noted.
“Well 35/11-26 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,409 meters and a measured depth of 3,770 meters below sea level and was completed in the Amundsen Formation from the Early Jurassic,” NPD noted in the statement.
“Well 35/11-26 A was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,000 meters and a measured depth of 3,421 meters below sea level and was completed in the Upper Jurassic Heather Formation,” he added.
“The water depth at the site is 356 meters. The wells have been plugged and abandoned permanently,” he added.
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