Ormen Lange field operator Norske Shell has completed its latest appraisal well, 6305/8-2, on the field.
The well encountered a 28m gas column with an underlying water zone in the “Egga reservoir unit” with very good reservoir quality, said the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). However, “preliminary well results do not provide a basis for changing the expected recoverable reserves from Ormen Lange,” added the NPD.
Ormen Lange was discovered in 1997 and has been producing since 2007. The reservoir is in Lower Paleocene and Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks. The field is in 600-1100m water depth in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea, about 130km northwest of Kristiansund.
The well was drilled about 7km south-southeast of the southernmost subsea template on the field and was aiming to was to delineate the field to the south, as it was unclear whether the area was optimally drained or not by existing production wells.
Shell had been considering a subsea compression project on Ormen Lange. But, it announced in April this year that ongoing concept select work on what would have been a ground-breaking project were being halted, citing costs and reservoir data.
Increasing costs have been a rising concern in the basin, particularly for subsea projects, leading in some cases for cheaper dry tree alternatives to be sought.
Well 6305/8-2 was the ninth exploration well drilled on Ormen Lange field and the second appraisal well drilled in production license 250, which was awarded in the 15th round in 1999.
Well 6305/8-2 was drilled by the Transocean Barents semisubmersible drilling rig, which will now proceed to the Draugen field in the Norwegian Sea to permanently plug production well 6407/9-A-53-H in production license 093, where Norske Shell is also operator.
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