Recent discoveries in the north of Troll area have had either the Middle Jurassic Brent or the Upper Jurassic Sognefjord sandstones as the main target.
Attend the NCS Exploration – Recent Discoveries Conference – 8&9 June in Oslo – and hear about how Equinor aims to develop the recent North of Troll discoveries.
Well 35/10-8, which is currently being drilled in PL293B by Equinor (51%), targets a much younger reservoir: injectites of Eocene age. Partnered by DNO (29%), Idemitsu (10%) and Longboat (10%), the well is hoped to confirm up to 36 MMb of mostly oil in the so-called Kveikje n’Roll prospect.
De-risked by a strong AVO-anomaly with conformance at depth, the prospect holds a significant P10 upside potential which could double the size of the discovery according to partner Longboat Energy.
Oil was already serendipitously found in a Paleocene Lista Fm sandstone in nearby well 35/10-1 drilled in 1991. The well proved a 2 m thick oil-filled sandstone of 37° API without evidence of biodegradation.
35/10-8 is the fifth exploration well Longboat Energy is partnering in. This begs the question, how has Longboat’s exploration campaign been so far?
Newcomer Longboat announced the completion of an ambitious programme in September 2021, which entailed a seven wells exploration campaign. So far though, the results are mixed.
The most promising well is no doubt 6407/1-9, which targeted the Cretaceous Egyptian Vulture prospect. Although the range in recoverable volumes is still large (19-62 MMboe), it potentially comes close to what Longboat estimated as the mean prospective resource: 103 MMboe.
Although Rødhette in the Barents Sea was a discovery, the 9-12 MMboe recoverable disappointed with respect to the anticipated 41 MMboe. Mugnetind (7/11-14S) is in the same category, with 5-11 MMboe recoverable proven while Longboat had estimated 24 MMboe.
The last of the four wells completed with Longboat as a partner is the Ginny well (6407/9-13), which was dry altogether.
Therefore, as of now Egyptian Vulture discovery looks the most promising, but given the large extent of the reservoir it is likely that further appraisal is required to narrow down the volume range and prove deliverability of the reservoir.
Kveikje provides another chance to beat the odds and arrive at a result that exceeds expectations. So far this has not been the case for Longboat though.
HENK KOMBRINK
