Aker BP has made an oil discovery in an area nicknamed NOAKA near the Alvheim field in the central part of the North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate confirmed on Tuesday.
Aker BP, operator of production licence 442, had announced the discovery earlier in July. Its partner in the license is Polish company Lotos.
The Liatårnet wildcat well (25/2-21) was drilled by the Deepsea Stavanger drilling facility about 40 kilometers northeast of the Alvheim field, and about 200 kilometers northwest of Stavanger.
The primary and secondary exploration targets for the well were to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Miocene period (the Skade formation).
The well encountered an oil column in the primary exploration target of about 28 meters in sand layers with extremely good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered. The secondary exploration target consisted of a water-bearing sand layer of about 12 meters, also with extremely good reservoir quality.
Preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery is between 13 and 32 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil. The flow potential and recovery rate are uncertain and will have to be clarified prior to preparation of a possible development plan.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out.
This is the ninth exploration well in production licence 442. The licence was awarded in APA 2006.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,170 meters below the sea surface and was terminated in rocks from the Oligocene age (the Hordaland group). Water depth at the site is 110 meters.
The well has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.
Deepsea Stavanger will now move on to the Norwegian Sea to drill wildcat well 6608/6-1 in production licence 762, where Aker BP ASA is also operator.
