In 2021, the oil company DNO will celebrate its 50 years, and in this connection, they have launched the ambition “50 by 50”; 50 000 barrels of oil per day on the Norwegian continental shelf by the 50th anniversary.
Whether and how the production target can be achieved remains uncertain. However, it is certain that the company’s Norwegian part, DNO Norway, is planning an active year on the Norwegian continental shelf, despite the corona pandemic.
In the May 7 quarterly report, the company reported an average production of 18,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2020.
They also reported that they were quickly cutting costs and investments when the corona came on everyone’s lips in March.
On the Norwegian shelf, the company drilled one exploration well and three appraisal / development wells.
Bergknapp became the big highlight of the quarter, where DNO (30 per cent ownership) and the partners found up to 100 million barrels of oil on the Halten terrasse. The company describes Bergknapp as a near-field finding with a high probability of being commercially viable.
For the rest of 2020, DNO currently plans to drill / participate in seven wells. One of these is Gabriel, being drilled by Equinor in the North Sea at the time of writing. The license partners estimate 5 – 34 million barrels of oil equivalent in the prospect, which is close to existing infrastructure.
In the third quarter of this year, the company will participate in an exploration well in the Barents Sea together with operator Lundin Energy. The potential is huge for the Polmak prospect, which includes Triassic carbonates; estimated recoverable resources range from 20 to 1,139 million barrels of oil equivalent. Any discovery in Polmak could help defend the development of Alta and Gohta nearby.
Other wells include follow-up wells in the Hades, Fenja and Ula discoveries.
DNO is awaiting drilling on the UK shelf.
DNO returned to the Norwegian continental shelf in 2017, through the acquisition of Origo Exploration and later Faroe Petroleum. The company’s main operations are in Kurdistan, where production in the first quarter was 81,000 barrels of oil per day. DNO has 106 licenses (28 as operator) in Kurdistan, Norway, the UK, the Netherlands and Yemen. 87 of them are on the Norwegian continental shelf.
TEXT: RONNY SETSÅ
