August 25, 2008

Norway: oil and gas discovery

StatoilHydro has made two new discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf. The presence of a considerable oil column has been confirmed under the Dagny structure in the North Sea. Gas has been proven in the deep-water Snefrid South prospect near the Luva discovery in the Norwegian Sea. The purpose of well 15/5-7 in production licence 048 was to confirm the presence of oil in Mid-Jurassic reservoir rocks below the Dagny gas discovery. The well confirmed an oil column of some 100m in the Hugin formation. The total recoverable volume is estimated at 100-125 million barrels of oil equivalent. The Dagny discovery is located some 10km NW of Sleipner West. Development of the discovery in association with the Sleipner field will be considered. Drilled in 119m of water by the Transocean Winner drilling rig the well was completed in the Upper Triassic Skagerrak formation, 4037m below the sea level. A side-track is now being considered in order to establish the oil-water contact. The costs of the well are split between PL048 and PL029. StatoilHydro (the operator) has an interest of 78.2% in PL048, whereas the partner, Total, has an interest of 21.8%. ExxonMobil is the operator of PL029 (100%).