Faroe Petroleum reports discovery in Norwegian Sea
LONDON -- Faroe Petroleum has reported an oil and gas discovery at the Njord North Flank in the Norwegian Sea (Faroe 7.5%). The well and side-track (NF-2 and NF-3), which were operated by Statoil, lie about 6 km to the north of the Njord production facility.
The NF-2 exploration well, 6407/7-9 S, was drilled to a total depth of 4,105 m below sea level. The well encountered 102 m of gross oil-bearing reservoir in Middle and Lower Jurassic sandstones of the Ile and 157 m of a gross gas condensate-bearing column in Lower Jurassic sandstones in the Tilje formation.
Based on these results, the partnership decided to drill a side-track well, 6407/7-9A, to test a fault-block lying to the east, which was drilled to a total depth of 4,127 m below sea level. The well encountered 195 m of gross gas-bearing column in the Tilje formation. In addition, 140 m of gross gas-bearing column were encountered in Lower Jurassic sandstones in the Åre formation. No hydrocarbons were encountered in the Ile formation in NF3.
Neither well was drill stem tested but extensive data acquisition and sampling has been performed on both wells. Based on the data acquired, a preliminary estimate of the size of the NF-2 discovery is between 1.3 MMboe and 18.9 MMboe for NF-2 and between 0.6 MMboe and 9.4 MMboe for NF-3. Collectively, these discoveries are equivalent to a range of 1.9 MMboe to 28.3 MMboe. These results are in line with pre-drill estimates.
The well has now been plugged and abandoned as planned and the partners will start work on assessing the commercial potential of the discovery.
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe Petroleum, said, “This new Greater Njord Area discovery builds on Faroe’s already significant position in this core area of the Norwegian Sea and has the potential to add further value and reserves to the Njord Future Project, which is scheduled to commence in early 2017. The North Flank discovery has also benefited from low rig rates and hence drilling costs, which, coupled with the Norwegian exploration tax rebate, has ensured Faroe’s cost exposure was very low and maintains our low finding costs.”
