On Monday 13th July, exploration well 7219/9-3 was spudded in PL 532 in the Barents Sea, about 5 kilometres south of the Kayak oil discovery. The primary target of the Mist prospect was the Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic Tubåen Formation; the secondary target was to assess the reservoir potential of the Upper Triassic Fruholmen Formation. The well reached a total depth of 1306 m below sea level.
The Tubåen Formation was found to be present with a gross thickness of 110 metres and a net reservoir thickness of 50 metres, displaying very good reservoir characteristics. Approximately 290 metres of the underlying Fruholmen Formation was penetrated, of which 75 metres consisted of good to very good reservoir. Both reservoirs turned out to be water bearing.
The Mist well has been closely followed by EMGS, the company that specialises in electromagnetic surveys for the oil and gas industry. Immediately after the well was spudded, an article was published on LinkedIn that predicted the well was going to be another duster. It was argued that the well was on track to become the fourth consecutive disappointing well drilled on a CSEM negative this year, after Grind, Gabriel and Sandia all turned out to be dry. It now turns out that EMGS has predicted this correctly.
The figure above shows a cross-section through the 7219/9-1 (dry) well on the left, via the 7220/7-1 Havis discovery well through to the currently drilling Mist well on the right. Red colours are high resistivities up to around 90 Rv (Ωm) and light blue represent values of around 10 Rv (Ωm). As can be clearly seen on this section, the Havis discovery lines up with a resistive anomaly, whilst the 7219/9-1 well does not, and neither the currently drilling Mist well.
So, when will the anomalies between 7220/7-1 and Mist be drilled?
HENK KOMBRINK
See also: “Tørt. Som forventet“.
