Lundin Petroleum Completes Torvastad Exploration Well

Sweden's Lundin Petroleum reported Tuesday that it has completed exploration well 16/2-20S, which was targeting the Torvastad prospect located north of the Johan Sverdrup discovery on production license 501 in the Norwegian North Sea.

The main objectives of the well were to prove the presence of oil-bearing Lower Cretaceous/Upper Jurassic sandstone and to determine whether the Torvastad structure was in communication with Johan Sverdrup.

Lundin said the well found a Lower Cretaceous/Upper Jurassic sequence with poor reservoir properties of approximately 79 feet above a water-bearing Upper Jurassic Draupne sandstone sequence of approximately 33 feet of "excellent quality" in a 46-foot gross sequence. The water-bearing upper Jurassic Draupne sandstone appears to be the same sequence encountered in all Johan Sverdrup wells, Lundin said.

The partners in PL501 have decided to drill a side track well at 16/2-20S approximately half a mile west of the original target location. This will investigate the potential of an up-flank Draupne sandstone and to establish an oil-water contact. The side-track is estimated to take approximately 20 days.

The 16/2-20S well was drilled to a depth of 6,790 feet below mean sea level by the Island Innovator (mid-water semisub) rig.