In a little more than a month, Aker BP managed to drill towards a depth of 4,674 m below sea level to test the Laushornet prospect in PL 685 in the Northern North Sea. Comparing that to the amount of time the Edinburgh well is going to be under way, this was certainly a fast delivery.
The 35/4-3 well had a frontier character to it, given its location in a more axial location in the North Viking Graben and relatively far away from previously drilled wells (see map above). Being situated north of the Brent pinch-out line, the Lower Jurassic Cook Formation constituted the main target of the well. A 93 m Cook reservoir was found indeed, but no hydrocarbons were encountered.
Be it a small find, a dry hole or a success, every well brings useful learnings. That is why Aker BP will present the stories on Lyderhorn and Mugnetind at the NCS Exploration – Recent Discoveries Conference in Oslo next month (8 & 9 June). See the full program here.
When is the next hitter?
With a recent string of dry to marginally economic finds, the exploration team in Aker BP will probably be looking forward to some success by now.
The Lyderhorn Paleocene injectite discovery turned out to be smaller than expected (5 MMboe), the Upper Jurassic Ula sands in Mugnetind also proved a smaller volume than initially foreseen (5-11 MMboe compared to 24-47 MMboe as estimated by partner Longboat) and the oil column in Øst Frigg probably appeared thinner than anticipated with an estimated recoverable volume of about 7 MMboe.
To that can be added a dry Tarbert Fm sands in the Grefselkollen prospect near Øst Frigg and an appraisal well on Liatårnet that resulted in the oil accumulation to be marked as non-commercial.
Maybe the Norwegian Sea will be a turning point, where Aker BP will drill the Storjo East prospect in PL261 next, targeting the Middle Jurassic Garn as the main reservoir.
HENK KOMBRINK
