Lundin Norway has found gas and oil in wildcat well 7220-11-1 on the Alta prospect in production license 609 in the Barents Sea.
The well was drilled about 20km northeast of the Gohta oil and gas discovery 7120/1-3 and about 190km northwest of Hammerfest.
The well encountered a 45m total oil column with an overlying 10m gas column in carbonate rocks in the Gipsdalen group, with good reservoir properties.
Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery are between 14 and 50MM cu m of recoverable oil, and between 5-17 billion cu m of recoverable gas. Further delineation of the discovery is planned for 2015.
Ashley Heppenstall, Lundin's President and CEO, said: “The Alta discovery is a significant predominantly oil discovery in the southern Barents Sea. Alta is close to the nearby Gohta discovery made by Lundin Petroleum just over a year ago. This discovery is another positive step in relation to proving up sufficient resources in the Loppa High area of the Barents Sea to enable the development of oil production infrastructure."
Two successful formation tests have been carried out in the oil zone, both of which indicated good flow properties. The maximum production rate was 518 cu m of oil and 48,700 cu m of associated gas per flow day through a 36/64-in. nozzle.
This well is the first exploration well in production license 609, which was awarded in the 21st licensing round in 2011.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 2221m below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Ugle formation from the Late Carboniferous period. The water depth is 388m. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Well 7220/11-1 was drilled by the Island Innovator drilling facility, which will now move to production license 625 in the North Sea to drill wildcat well 25/10-12 S, where Lundin Norway is the operator.