Another North Sea Oil Find

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A small oil discovery has been made by StatoilHydro in the Titan prospect directly east of northern Visund in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea. Made by exploration wells 34/8-13 A and 34/8-13 S, this strike is estimated to contain 5.6-12.5 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalent. A tie-in to Visund will be assessed.

Intended to prove petroleum in the Brent group, the discovery wells were drilled in a structurally complex area.

While 13 A found a small oil column in Upper Jurassic sands, the underlying Brent group proved to be an aquifer. Well 13 S, drilled 2.7 kilometres to the south-east, found oil in the Brent group.

The wells were drilled from Scarabeo 5, which has moved to PL 199 for a workover of production well 6406/2-S-4 H. (Photo: Trond Sigvaldsen)

The oil zones in the two wells are likely to be in communication, and both have been subject to extensive data gathering and coring.

“This find is the result of good collaboration between the Visund production team and our exploration specialists,” said Tom Dreyer, head of infrastructure-led exploration in the North Sea.

The water depth in the area is 381 metres. Both wells have now been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Operator StatoilHydro has 59.06% of production licence 120, where its partners are Petoro with 16.94%, ConocoPhillips 13% and Total E&P Norge 11%.