Latest Tampen find likely not commercial

Statoil reported proving up a limited oil column while drilling an exploration well on the Omega Nord prospect 6km northeast of the Snorre field in the North Sea on 10 February 2010. The Norwegian company said, however, that the reservoir qualities of the sand and shale rocks were below expectations and the find is probably not commercially viable.

The exploration well was intended to confirm the presence of petroleum in upper Triassic reservoir rocks in the Lunde formation. Tom Dreyer, head of infrastructure-led exploration in the North Sea, said the well did not produce the results the company had hoped for. The Ocean Vanguard concluded drilling of the exploration well without carrying out a formation test. Nonetheless, the operator said, extensive data gathering and sampling occurred on the well drilled to 2940m vertical depth below sea level in 385m of water in production license 057.

The Ocean Vanguard is slated to next drill exploration well 34/4-12 A in Snorre Unit from the same rig position.

Statoil operates the license with 31% on behalf of partners Petoro with 30%, RWE Dea Norge AS with 24.5%, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge with 9.6% and Hess Norge AS with 4.9%.

by: Jennifer Pallanich,
jpallanich@offshore-engineer.com