Norway’s Equinor and its partners have discovered gas and condensate in the 30/2-5 S Atlantis exploration well in the North Sea, the company said in a news release July 8.

Drilled by the West Hercules drilling rig about 17 km south of the Kvitebjørn Field, the well aimed to prove hydrocarbons in the Middle Jurassic reservoir of the Brent Group. It hit about a 160-m gas column, of which 60 m was effective Middle Jurassic reservoir rock, according to Equinor.

Though the well was not formation tested, Equinor said extensive amounts of data and samples were taken. The company put proven reserves at between 3 and 10 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent based on preliminary estimates.

“It is encouraging to see that we are able to keep proving more resources in one of the most mature areas on the Norwegian continental shelf,” Nick Ashton, Equinor’s senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the U.K., said in the release. “Now we will work on evaluating the potential for profitable and CO2 efficient recovery.”

The company said poor to satisfactory reservoir quality was encountered in the Ness, Etive and Tarbert formation, while the Rannoch formation had poor reservoir quality.

The well, drilled to a depth of 4,359 m below sea level, was the first exploration well drilled in production license 878 offshore Norway. Partners are Equinor Energy AS (60%), Source Energy (20%) and Wellesley Petroleum AS (20%).

Water depth in the area is 142 m. Equinor said the rig will move on to drill the Swisher prospect in production license 248C.

 

Offshore