Norway Re-appraises Iris Gas Find
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has lowered the top end of the range of its resource estimate for the Iris gas and condensate discovery in the Norwegian Sea, after Austria’s OMV drilled an appraisal well.
OMV discovered Iris at a well on production licence 644B in 2018 and it was hailed as the largest Norwegian discovery of the year. The operator is now finishing work on a second well at the adjacent 644 licence, the NPD said on October 24.
Preliminary results from the new well indicate Iris holds 4-12mn m3 of recoverable oil equivalents, or 25-75mn boe. Prior to drilling, its resources were assessed at 19-132mn boe, meaning the midpoint has dropped from 85mn boe to 50mn boe. Two formation flow tests were carried out, achieving a maximum daily production rate of 1.6mn m3 of gas and 885 m3 of condensate.
Estimates for the neighbouring Hades discovery, found in the same Lange formation as Iris last year, remain unchanged at 19-113mn barrels as a result of the new well.
The probe was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,443 metres in waters 382 metres deep, and will now be plugged and abandoned. The Deepsea Bergen semi-submersible used to complete it will move on to drill a wildcat in the North Sea for Hungary’s MOL.