Statoil made its third discovery in three months in the Aasta Hansteen area, this time at the Gymir prospect, that the company said will help unlock the full potential.
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Gymir map. From Statoil. |
The well 6706/11-2, drilled by the Transocean Spitsbergen rig in the Gymir prospect, proved a gross 70m gas column in the Nise Formation with good reservoir qualities. Statoil estimates the volumes in Gymir to be in the range of 6-19 MMboe. Gymir is located just 8km away from Roald Rygg and 14km away from Snefrid Nord.
Aasta Hansteen will be the largest SPAR platform in the world and is the biggest ongoing field development project in the Norwegian Sea. It is one of the main projects in Statoil’s portfolio. The plan for development and operations (PDO) was approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in 2013. Production start up is expected in 2017.
The drilling operations in all three wells have been extremely efficient, making them the fastest deepwater wells ever drilled on the Norwegian continental shelf. The Gymir well was completed in just 13 days, which is a unique drilling performance for a deepwater well, Statoil said.
“Our 2015 exploration campaign around Aasta Hansteen has proven an upside potential in the area. The estimated total volumes in the three discoveries, Snefrid Nord, Roald Rygg and Gymir, amount to 75-120 MMboe, corresponding to about one-third of the Aasta Hansteen recoverable volumes. The discoveries will now be further evaluated for future tie-in to the Aasta Hansteen facilities in order to optimize utilization of the infrastructure and prolong the production plateau,” Dan Tuppen, Statoil vice president exploration Norwegian and Barents Sea said.
“The total savings achieved in the three wells amount to 50 days or US$46 million (360 MNOK) compared to the initial plan. This is a result of STEP (Statoil technical efficiency program) within drilling and well, and the ability of the onshore planning team and the Transocean Spitsbergen crew to take out the full potential of the drilling process. The efficiency gains were achieved while keeping high HSE standards,” Thor Emil Bensvik, head of Statoil exploration drilling operations on the NCS said.
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