Oil has been discovered by StatoilHydro in the Frigg Delta prospect in the North Sea, with proven recoverable volumes put at 18-35 million barrels. This find is located about 21 kilometres east of the abandoned Frigg field and 12 kilometres north of Frøy.
"It’s commercially interesting, and we’ve already started looking at prospects for a development linked to nearby oil resources," said Tom Dreyer, head of infrastructure-led exploration in the North Sea. The discovery well encountered oil in sandstone of good reservoir quality belonging to the Frigg formation.
"Our starting point has been an old unclarified find in this formation," said Dreyer. "An analysis of this, combined with new seismic data, put us quickly on the track of the oil we’ve now proven in Frigg Delta."
The total potential recoverable volume in this discovery and the nearby Frigg Gamma and Frigg Epsilon reservoirs is in the order or 62-189 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Ocean Vanguard, responsible for the discovery, will now redeploy to the Norwegian Sea to drill an exploration well on the Fløien prospect also operated by StatoilHydro.
In addition to the group with 40%, licensees in production licence 442 covering Frigg Delta are Svenska Petroleum Exploration with 40% and Det Norske with 20%.