Norwegian Fogelberg Appraisal Well Starts

Partners in the Fogelberg gas and condensate discovery offshore Norway have spudded an appraisal well, said 20% shareholder PGNiG, the state-controlled Polish incumbent February 7.

The well results will be used to precisely estimate the reserves and plan the development of the discovery. The reserves have been preliminarily estimated to be about 60mn barrels of oil equivalent, yielding a forecast 2.5bn m³/yr, it said.

“Fogelberg has significant gas potential. It is particularly important for our plans to ramp up natural gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf and to soon start bringing the gas to Poland. This supply source is key to our diversification strategy,” said PGNiG CEO Piotr Wozniak.  The company has booked capacity in the planned Norway-Poland 'BalticPipe' gas line, underscoring its plan to do without Russian gas once its contracts expire early next decade.

The field is operated by the Centrica-Bayerngas joint venture Spirit Energy, with a 51.7% interest. The third partner is Faroe Petroleum with 28.3%. 

The 6506/9-4S appraisal well will be drilled by the Island Innovator semi-submersible rig. Drilling will take around four months, including a contingent sidetrack and production test. It will help in precisely assessing the size of the discovery.

PGNiG holds interests in 21 exploration and production licences on the Norwegian continental shelf, acting under two of them as the operator. PGNiG’s recoverable reserves in Norway, where it has been engaged in upstream projects since 2007, now total 83mn boe as of January 1. It says it intends to participate in future licensing rounds and is analysing opportunities to acquire further licences in Norway.