The NPD announced that operator Aker BP has concluded drilling appraisal well 2/11-12S and wildcat 2/11-12A in PL 033. The wells were drilled 1,5km southwest of the Hod field in the southern Norwegian North Sea.
Hod redevelopment?
The Hod field was proven in Upper Cretaceous Hod formation, a chalk reservoir in 1974 and produced until 2013. Aker BP and partner Pandion are looking into redeveloping the field. Before the appraisal well was drilled, the operator’s resource estimate for the discovery was between 6 and 12 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil.
Well 2/11-12S had as goal to delineate the western part of the Hod field. The secondary exploration target was to examine a diatomite reservoir in the Miocene Hordaland group.
The well encountered 120m Hod formation chalk with poor reservoir properties and traces of oil. 200 m of reservoir rocks with poor reservoir properties and traces of oil were encountered in the secondary target in the Hordaland group. The appraisal well is classified as dry.
Preliminary estimates of the size of the Hod field are within the range of uncertainty prior to drilling and a new resource estimate will be prepared says the NPD.
The question is how much Hod will be able to contribute to Aker BP’s goal of doubling the production in the Valhall area.
Hod deep west: dry
The Hod deep west prospect was a play test of deeper reservoirs in the Valhall basement. This is part of Aker BP’s infrastructure led exploration strategy. Well 2/11-12 A had two targets: Upper Jurassic Eldfisk and Ula formations and the deep Permian reservoir rocks of the Rotliegendes group or older.
The well did not encounter reservoir in the primary exploration target and the well never reached the Rotliegendes but was terminated in the Permian Zechstein. In the Lower Cretaceous, a carbonate-rich interval of about 45 m in the Tuxen and Åsgard formations was encountered with traces of oil, but with poor reservoir properties. The well is classified as dry.
[btn url=”https://events.geonova.no/event/ncs-exploration-2019/” text_color=”#25bae8″ bg_color=”#f7f7f7″ icon=”” icon_position=”start” size=”22″ id=”” target=”on”]NCS Exploration 2019, May 21-22, Fornebu: Recent Advances in Petroleum Exploration[/btn]
