Equinor Finds Gas Near Kvitebjorn in North Sea
Equinor has discovered between 3 and 10mn m3 of recoverable oil equivalent (19-63mn boe) in gas and condensate after drilling a well 17 km south of the Kvitebjorn gas field in the North Sea, it said on July 8.
The wildcat well, the first to be drilled at the Equinor-operated production licence (PL) 878, was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,359 metres below the sea level, in 142-metre water depth. It encountered a 160-metre gas column, of which 60 metres was effective Middle Jurassic reservoir rock, ranging from poor to moderate quality.
"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," Equinor's senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the UK, Nick Ashton, said in a statement. "Now we will work on evaluating the potential for profitable and CO2 efficient recovery."
Equinor has a 60% in PL 878, while fellow Norwegian explorers Source Energy and Wellesley Petroleum each have 20%. Equinor also has a 39.6% interest in the Kvitebjorn field, alongside partners Petoro (30%), Spirit Energy (19%), Shell (6.45%) and Total (5%). The field entered production in 2004 and is now in decline. It flowed 4.52bn m3 of gas and around 21,100 b/d of liquids last year.