Eni has started drilling on the Boné (Dazzler) exploration well 7318/12-1 in the Norwegian Barents Sea.
Boné, being drilled using the Scarabeo 8 semisubmersible drilling rig is in a similar structural setting to the Johan Castberg discovery, 90km to the southeast, says partner Faroe Petroleum (20% equity).
The primary targets for the well are the Jurassic Stø- and Nordmela sandstones with a secondary target within the Triassic Fruholmen and Snadd sandstone formations.
Meanwhile, Faroe, as operator, says a decision has been made to drill an appraisal well on the Brasse, mid-2017, discovery using Odfjell's semisubmersible drilling rig Deepsea Bergen, with development feasibility studies ongoing.
Faroe announced the Brasse oil and gas discovery in PL740 in July 2016. The main wellbore 31/7-1 encountered an 18m gross gas column and a 21m gross oil column, and the sidetrack well (31/7-1A) encountered a 6m gross gas column and 25m gross oil column, with both wells encountering good quality Jurassic reservoir.
Total gross volumes of recoverable hydrocarbons have been estimated by the company to be 28-54 MMbbl of oil and 89-158 Bcf of gas (43-80 MMboe gross in aggregate).
The main objectives of the appraisal well are to reduce the uncertainty in the reserves estimates and to provide important additional information for the development project.
Brasse is within tie-back distance to existing infrastructure: 13km south of the Brage field platform, in which the company holds a 14.3% working interest and 13km south east of the Oseberg field centre.
Graham Stewart, CEO of Faroe Petroleum commented: “This high impact well will test a large horst structure with very significant volume potential.
“Together with Point Resources we are progressing feasibility studies [on Brasse] which will be ongoing in parallel with the appraisal project.
License PL716 containing Boné was awarded in June 2013 in the Norwegian 22nd Licensing Round. Eni is operator with 30% interest, alongside Bayerngas (20%), Petoro (20%), Faroe (20%) and Point Resources (10%).