Wintershall Comes Up Dry with Kvalross Well

Junior oil and gas firm Faroe Petroleum announced Wednesday that the Kvalross exploration well in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea has come up dry.

The well, drilled by operator Wintershall, was spud on January 11 and reached a total vertical depth of 9,570 feet in the Lower Triassic Havert formation. It aimed to testr two independent targets: the Kvalross prospect (located in the Lower Triassic Klappmyss formation) and the Kvaltann prospect (located in the Mid-Late Triassic Snadd formation channel). Good quality sands were encountered in the Kvaltann prospect but were found to be water wet, while although some hydrocarbon shows were observed in the main Kvalross target they were not in good-quality reservoirs.

The well, which was drilled by the Transocean Arctic ( ) rig, will now be plugged and abandoned. Norwegian production license PL611, where the Kvalross well is located, is held by Wintershall Norge (40 percent), Faroe (40 percent) and Petoro (20 percent).

Faroe Chief Executive Graham Stewart commented in a company statement:

"Whilst the results for the Barents Sea Kvalross well are disappointing, we are pleased that the well has been drilled significantly below budget and to have encountered hydrocarbon shows which will add to the large data bank we now hold over this prospective frontier area.  We look forward now to the next two exploration wells in our program. The near-field Brasse well in the Norwegian North Sea and the Njord North Flank well in the Norwegian Sea are scheduled to be drilled in the summer and second half of 2016 respectively.  

"Faroe has built a strong portfolio position in Norway, where exploration benefits materially from tax rebates provided by the state to support and encourage exploration in the country.

"In the meantime Faroe's strong balance sheet means we are well prepared to weather the continuing period of low commodity prices, and are seeking to capitalise on our position to pursue consolidation opportunities in our core areas on the UK and Norwegian continental shelves."



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