As announced yesterday, operator of Norwegian Sea licence 159B Equinor has completed well 6507/3-14 on the Black Vulture discovery and did not succeed in proving hydrocarbons in what was thought to be an appraisal well.
Based on these results, the initial estimated volume range for Black Vulture of 2.5-27.7 MMboe will most probably be revised downwards, but is seems likely that a significant uncertainty with regards to expected volumes remains.
The discovery well of Black Vulture is 6507/3-13 (just to the northeast of the 14 well), which proved oil and gas in the Lower Cretaceous Lange Fm and gas in the Upper Cretaceous Lysing Fm in 2019.
The fact that the appraisal well turns out dry may be explained by a more complex reservoir heterogeneity than previously assumed. As the cores on display during the recent Exploration Revived Conference Ice-breaker session showed, the Lysing and Lange Fm sandstones are characterised by their sometimes thin-bedded nature, which may indicate poorer connectivity than Equinor had hoped to find.
