DNO ASA found gas condensate with its HP/HT Norma prospect in PL984 in the Norwegian North Sea, the operator announced Sept. 19.

DNO said it considers the discovery a play-opener for the deep turbiditic sands in this area given the exceptionally good reservoir quality encountered.

The Deepsea Yantai rig drilled the Norma prospect to 4,800 m vertical depth. At 4,650 m, the well encountered a 16-m hydrocarbon column in a 20-m gross reservoir section in Jurassic sandstones. Several gas condensate samples were collected in the reservoir. In addition, a water sample was acquired. A bypass core of 33.7 m was secured, and an extensive data and sampling program conducted.

Preliminary evaluation of the discovery well indicates gross recoverable resources between 25 MMboe and 130 MMboe on a P90-P10 basis, with a mean of 70 MMboe, in a Jurassic reservoir zone with high quality sandstones, DNO said in a press release

The Norma find follows six Troll-Gjøa area discoveries by DNO as operator or partner since 2021.

“Norma opens up an exciting new play for DNO in the North Sea,” Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said in the release. “At the risk of hoodooing our crack explorationists, the string of recent discoveries validates DNO’s offshore Norway exploration strategy.”

Plans are underway to further delineate the discovery and the upside potential in the license. Before further appraisal drilling, improved seismic imaging and remapping will be undertaken to identify an optimal location for the next well.

Even with the additional extensive data collection protocols, the Norma well is expected to be finished 15 days ahead of plan and at a cost 8% below budget, DNO said. Plug and abandonment operations have begun.

Located 20 km northwest of the Balder hub and 30 km south of the Alvheim hub, Norma is in an area with extensive infrastructure and has tie-back options offering potential routes to commercialization.

Within the same license, DNO has identified additional exploration prospects that have been de-risked by the Norma results.

DNO operates PL984 with 30% interest on behalf of partners Source Energy AS with 20%, Equinor Energy AS with 20%, Vår Energi ASA with 20% and Aker BP ASA with 10%.

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