NPD Reports Two Dry NCS Wells

Two dry wells were reported on the Norwegian continental shelf Wednesday.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Statoil's wildcat well 25/11-26 – the 13th exploration well in production license 169 – came up dry, while Maersk Oil Norway failed to find commercial hydrocarbons at its wildcat well 6506/6-2 on the Albert prospect in the Norwegian North Sea.

The primary target of well 25/11-26, located around 5.5 miles northeast of the Grane field in the North Sea, was to prove petroleum in the Balder formation in the Eocene layer. The Ocean Vanguard (mid-water semisub) rig used to drill the well will now proceed to production license 502 to drill appraisal well 16/5-3 on the Johan Sverdrup discovery.

Well 6506/6-2 was drilled to prove petroleum in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks. It was the first exploration well in production license 513, which was awarded in the APA 2008 licensing round. The Transocean Barents (UDW semisub) rig will now move to the Barents Sea, where it will drill development well 7218/11-1 for Repsol Exploration Norge.