Lundin Petroleum successfully completed drilling two appraisal wells that encountered hydrocarbon pay in the Alta discovery offshore Norway, in the Barents Sea.
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The Island Innovator. Image from Island Drilling. |
Appraisal well 722/-11-2 and sidetrack well 7220/11-2 A were drilled about 330m apart from each other in PL609 at 379m water depth using the Island Innovator semisubmersible. 722/-11-2 is located approximately 6.5km southwest of the original Alta discovery well 7220/11-1, which was completed in October 2014. The Alta oil and gas discovery is about 160km from the Norwegian coast, and located10-20km northeast of Lundin’s Gohta discovery in the Barents Sea South.
Well 722/-11-2 was drilled to 2020m below mean sea level where a 50m thick gas column in rocks of good to poor reservoir quality was encountered. Its main objectives to confirm the reservoir model and prove the presence of hydrocarbon columns and fluid contacts similar to those established in the Alta discovery well were successfully achieved.
To the west of the appraisal well, sidetrack well 7220/11-2 A was drilled to 2041m total depth and encountered moveable oil. The age of the reservoir rocks remain uncertain, however, it is assumed Triassic and/or Permian, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).
The preliminary evaluation of the gross recoverable oil and gas resource range from the Alta discovery well after the first well was estimated at 125-400 MMboe, Lundin said.
Pressure data and fluid properties indicate communication between both the appraisal wells and the original discovery well 7220/11-1.
According to Lundin, extensive data acquisition and sampling were performed in both wells, including conventional coring and fluid sampling. One production test (DST) was carried out in sidetrack well 7220/11-2 A. The maximum production rate was 860 b/d and 0.65 MMcf/d of gas through a 24/64in choke. The pressure build-up during the test showed increased permeability thickness away from the well bore, interpreted to be in a westerly direction based on seismic data.
Both wells are being permanently plugged and abandoned, and the Island Innovator is being mobilized to the next appraisal well, 7220/11-3 located on the eastern flank of the Alta discovery. The well is set to spud mid-June.
"The appraisal wells on the western flank of Alta have confirmed our geological model and the existence of hydrocarbons at this location,” Ashley Heppenstall, Lundin president and CEO said. “Whilst the reservoir encountered is of variable quality, the production test and data acquired provides us with confidence of connectivity across the structure and improved reservoir quality away from the well bore".
Lundin’s wholly owned subsidiary Lundin Norway is operator of PL609 and holds 40% working interest. Partners include DEA Norge and Idemitsu Petroleum Norge, each with 30% interest.
Earlier this week, Lundin Norway received the NPD’s approval to drill an appraisal well southeast of the Edvard Grieg field in the central North Sea.
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