Statoil Petroleum’s exploration well 34/8-16 S encountered an oil, gas and condensate column on the east flank of the Visund Field in the northern part of the North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said in a news release.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove gas and/or gas condensate in the Middle Triassic (the Lomvi formation). The secondary exploration target was to investigate additional resources in Lower to Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Statfjord and Brent Group) and Upper Triassic reservoir rocks (the Lunde formation), the release said.

The well encountered an hydrocarbon column of about 85 m in the Lunde formation, 40 m of which were of moderate to good reservoir quality, but the Brent group is not present. Preliminary calculations of the size of the discovery are between 0.4 and 1.1 million standard cubic feet of recoverable oil equivalents, the NPD said. The licensees will consider further development of the discovery in the context of other potential additional resources.

NPD said the well was not formation tested, but comprehensive data collection and sampling were carried out. The well was drilled to a vertical and measured depth of 3,875 m and 3,830 m below sea level, respectively, and was terminated in the Hegre group in the Triassic, the release said. The water depth at the site is 380 m. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well was drilled by the Songa Trym drilling facility, the NPD said.

Offshore