It’s been silent in the Barents Sea for a while, but Equinor and partners have now announced another oil discovery. It is a near field find, so far from frontier exploration as such, but adding up to 50 MMboe to the Johan Castberg development is still a good result.
According to the NPD press release, the 7220/8-2 well targeting the Snøfonn Nord prospect encountered two oil columns in the Tubåen Formation of 81 and 13 metres in the upper and lower part of the formation, respectively, in sandstone totalling about 114 metres with very good reservoir quality. The deepest oil-water contact was encountered 921 metres below sea level.
Attend the NCS Exploration – Recent Discoveries Conference, taking place 8 & 9 June in Oslo, and hear the story about the Snøfonn Nord discovery from Equinor.
You will also hear more about: Toppand, Apodida, Røver Nord, Dugong Tail, Segment D, Hamlet, Talisker East, Rolvsnes, King/Prince, Wisting, Salina, Bask, Rødhette, Isflak, Skavl, Mugnetind, Lyderhorn, Gomez, Tyrihans Ile North, Warka, Bergknapp & Fenja.
In addition, there will be talks about frontier exploration in the Norwegian Sea, a debate on source rocks and implications on hydrocarbon generation and much more.
A 20-metre oil column was encountered in the Nordmela Formation in sandstone with medium to good reservoir quality. The oil-water contact was not encountered in the well.
In the Fruholmen Formation, the well encountered a 14-metre oil column, in about 81 metres of sandstone with medium to good reservoir quality. The oil-water contact was encountered 1071 metres below sea level.
It is expected that the Snøfonn Nord discovery holds between 38 and 50 MMboe in recoverable reserves and that a future tie-back to Johan Castberg is the most logical development option.
Equinor and partners are currently drilling the Skavl Stø prospect through 7220/8-3 a little further to the west, hoping to add more volumes to Johan Castberg.
HENK KOMBRINK
