Discoveries, Dry Holes and Drilling Permits in Norway
The month isn’t over yet but a lot has already happened in Norway’s petroleum industry in July.
On July 13, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) revealed that a gas discovery had been made near the Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea through wildcat well 6507/2-6. According to the NPD, preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery in the Jurassic to be between 3.6 and 10.8 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, while preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery in the Cretaceous between 1.2 and 1.8 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent.
This is the first exploration well in production license 261, which is operated by Aker BP ASA, the NPD highlighted, adding that well 6507/2-6 was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,904 meters below sea level and that water depth at the site is 336 meters.
The NPD highlighted other drilling results on July 11, although these weren’t as fruitful. ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS, the operator of production license 935, was said to have concluded the drilling of wildcat well 6306/3-2, but the NPD noted that the well was dry with traces of petroleum in the upper part of the Rogn Formation.
Earlier in the month, the NPD announced that it had granted two drilling permits. OMV (Norge) AS was granted a drilling permit for exploration well 30/5-4 S, which will be drilled by the Maersk Trepid drilling facility, and Neptune Energy Norge AS was granted a drilling permit for exploration well 35/6-3 S, which will be drilled by the Deepsea Yantai.
On July 4, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy also announced a temporary appointment, naming Torgeir Stordal as the director general of the NPD from June 30 and until a new director general of the NPD is hired.
Stordal has been the acting director general since Ingrid Sølvberg resigned from her limited term appointment on June 17. He has been employed by the NPD since 2017, first as exploration director and since 2021 as director of the technology, analyses and co-existence department.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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