Statoil has made a minor gas discovery about 9 kilometers northeast of the Heidrun field in the Norwegian Sea and about 270 kilometers southwest of Sandnessjøen.

According to Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Statoil, the operator of production licence 124, is about to complete the drilling of wildcat well 6507/8-9.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Middle and/or Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Fangst and/or Båt Group). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Båt Group).

The well encountered a gas column of a total of approx. 80 meters in the Åre formation in the Båt Group, of which 35 meters were in sandstone with good reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was proven 2185 meters below the sea surface.

In the secondary exploration target, the well encountered several water-filled sandstone layers with good reservoir quality in lower parts of the Åre formation in the Båt Group.

The preliminary estimation of the size of the discovery is between 0.7 and 1.2 billion standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable gas. The licensees in production licence 124 will consider a tie-in of the discovery to existing infrastructure on the Heidrun field, NPD noted.

The well was not formation tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out.

6507/8-9 was drilled to a vertical depth of 2352 meters below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Åre formation in the Lower Jurassic.

Well 6507/8-9 was drilled by the Deepsea Bergen drilling facility, which will now proceed to drill wildcat well 33/9-22 S in production licence 881 in the North Sea, where Wellesley Petroleum is the operator.