Minor gas discovery on the Finnmark platform in the Barents Sea

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in carbonate and spiculite reservoir rocks (the Røye formation) in the Upper Permian. The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in underlying carbonates and sandstones (the Ørn formation and the Soldogg formation) in the Permian and Carboniferous Ages.

In the primary exploration target, well 7130/4-1 encountered an approximately 40 m thick aquiferous spiculite reservoir in the Røye formation, with poor reservoir quality.

In the secondary exploration target, the well proved traces of petroleum in the Ørn formation. The formation is about 180 m thick, but is mainly tight. In the Soldogg formation, the well encountered a five m thick gas column in a sandstone reservoir with moderate reservoir quality. In total, the well encountered about 85 m of reservoir in the Soldogg formation. The gas/water contact was encountered. The assessment of the size of the discovery is unclear at this time, but indications are that it is too small to be commercial.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out, with cores from the primary exploration target, and lateral cores in the secondary exploration target (the Soldogg formation).

This is the first exploration well in production licence 708. The licence was awarded in the 22nd licensing round in 2013.

Well 7130/4-1 was drilled to a vertical depth of 3184 m below the sea surface and was terminated in the Soldogg formation in the Lower Carboniferous. Water depth at the site is 288 m. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 7130/4-1 was drilled by the Transocean Arctic, which will now drill wildcat well 7224/2-1 in production licence 611 in the Barents Sea, where Wintershall Norge AS is the operator.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/offshore-and-subsea/04012016/minor-gas-discovery-on-the-finnmark-platform-in-the-barents-sea/