MOL Norge AS and partner Lundin Petroleum said March 18 they found oil and gas in the central part of the North Sea offshore Norway near the Balder and Ringhorne Field.

Located in production license 820S, the discoveries were made at the Erva and Iving exploration well.

Lundin said a gross 34-m gas column above an oil column of at least 45 m was hit in moderate quality Skagerrak reservoirs at Iving, which included two sidetracks for data acquisition. The well was production tested in the Skagerrak Formation, and it flowed at a maximum rate of about 3,000 barrels per day.

MOL said preliminary evaluation of the main discovery shows recoverable resources between 12 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) and 71 MMboe.

The main borehole and two sidetracks were drilled in 126 m of water to a maximum depth of 2,652 m below sea level by the Deepsea Bergen semisubmersible drilling rig, according to MOL.

Smaller volumes of oil and gas in other formations were also found.

Lundin said additional gas and oil in Eocene/Paleocene age injectite reservoir sands of up to 8 m in thickness were found at Evra. Oil was also found in the Statfjord sandstone formation and in weathered and fractured basement. Additional appraisal is needed to determine the resource potential, it added.

Plans include evaluating the discoveries for further appraisal drilling. The discovery could be developed as a tieback to existing nearby infrastructure.

Holding a 40% working interest, MOL Norway is the operator. Partners are Lundin Norway (40%), Pandion Energy (10%) and Wintershall DEA (10%).

Offshore