Lundin Comes up Dry in Central North Sea

Sweden's Lundin Petroleum has drilled a dry well northeast of the Sleipner Øst field in the central part of the Norwegian North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said Tuesday.

Wildcat well 16/4-7, located in production license 544, had the objective of proving petroleum in Jurassic and Triassic reservoir rocks. While the well encountered an approximately 147-foot thick Hugin formation and a 164-foot thick Skagerrak formation in the Upper Triassic zone, with very good reservoir properties, the well turned out to be dry.

The well, drilled to 8,530 feet below the sea surface, has now been permanently plugged and abandoned. It was drilled by the Bredford Dolphin (mid-water semisub) rig, which will now proceed to the Johan Sverdrup oil discovery to drill appraisal well 16/5-4.