BP Norge Well Hits Gas in Norwegian Sea

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Norway's national body for oil and gas, has said that operator BP Norge has hit gas in the Norwegian Sea.

The announcement, made today on the NPD's website, says the discovery was made about 20 kilometres north of the Skarv gas field and 5 kilometres east of the Marulk field. BP Norge made the discovery following the drilling of wildcat well 6507/3-9 S.

The wildcat well was aiming to prove the presence of gas in the Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks (the Lysing formation). Following drilling to a total vertical depth of 2,923 metres, the well proved the presence of gas in the targeted formation, a discovery the NPD describes as "small".

BP Norge terminated the well in the Lange formations in the Lower Cretaceous rocks. The well has now been plugged and abandoned. Though the well has not been formation tested, the NPD says that the operator has undertaken extensive sampling and data acquisition and will now evaluate the potential of the discovery.

According to the NPD, preliminary estimates on the discovery area put potential reserves at between 1.2 and 2.3 billion standard metres of gas. 

BP Norge is the operator of the PL212 E production licence under which the well is drilled with a 30 per cent stake. Partner Statoil also holds a 30 per cent stake while E.ON Ruhrgas and PGNiG hold a 25 per cent and 15 per cent stake respectively.