Statoil Petroleum has made a minor oil discovery at the Romeo prospect in production license 146 in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea.
The Romeo well 2/4-22 S was drilled about 20km north of the Ekofisk field and 2.3km northeast of the 2/4-21 discovery.
Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery range between 0.7 and 2 MMcu m recoverable boe, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).
The well is the ninth exploration well in production license 146. The license was awarded in the 12th licensing round in 1988.
The primary Romeo exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Permian (the Auk formation in the Rotliegend group). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Middle Jurassic (the Bryne formation).
In its primary exploration target, the well encountered a 27m oil column in the Auk formation, 24m of which was sandstone of good reservoir quality, says the NPD. In its secondary exploration target, the well encountered oil columns in two intervals in the Bryne formation, where the top interval also extends into the overlying Ula formation in the Upper Jurassic.
No oil/water contact was encountered in either of the intervals in the Jurassic. The Bryne formation has a 46m oil column, about 30m of which is sandstone of good to poor reservoir quality. The Bryne and Ula formations have a 49m oil column, about 15m of which are from multiple thin sandstone layers with good to poor reservoir quality, according to the NPD.
Further studies are needed in order to determine whether the discovery can be included as part of a future development of the area.
Well 2/4-22 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 4834m below sea level and was terminated in the Auk formation. Water depth at the site is 67m. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Well 2/4-22 S was drilled by the Maersk Gallant jackup drilling facility, which will now move on to drill exploration well 2/4-23 in the same production license.
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