Aker BP makes minor gas find off Norway
Aker BP has made a minor gas discovery in the east part of the Norwegian Barents Sea, next to the country's maritime border with Russia, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) reported on July 20.
The company's wildcat well encountered a 57-m gas column in the Orn formation in Late Carboniferous and Early Permian rock with a high CO2 content. It also found gas traces in several thin sandstone layers of variable reservoir quality in the Snadd, Kobbe and Havert formation in the Triassic layer.
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The discovery is estimated at only 1.6-2.1bn m3 of gas in size and is not currently considered financially profitable, although Aker BP will assess it and other prospects in production licence (PL) 858, the NPD said.
This is the first well to be drilled at PL 858. It reached a vertical depth of 4,003 m, in waters 247 m deep. The Deepsea Nordkapp rig used to complete it will now move to PL 146 in the North Sea to drill another well for Aker BP.
Aker BP operates PL 858 with a 40% interest, while Norway's Equinor and Petoro, and Russia's Lukoil, each have 20% shares.
Norway is offering rights to some 70 blocks in the Barents Sea in its current awards in predefined areas (APA) round, out of a total offering of 84, with September 8 set as the deadline for bids. Last month authorities also issued three licences in the Barents Sea in the country's latest numbered round, although they had hoped to award eight.
Equinor struck oil near the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea in March, although recent exploration results in the frontier region have been mostly disappointing.