Oil discovery near the Goliat field in the Barents Sea

The well was drilled about 13 kilometres northeast of the Goliat field in the southern part of the Barents Sea and 90 km northwest of Hammerfest.

The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in the Kobbe Formation in Middle Triassic reservoir rocks.

The secondary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in the Realgrunnen Subgroup in Lower/Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks.

Well 7122/8-1 S encountered an oil column of 13 metres in the Realgrunnen Subgroup in sandstone layers totalling 29 metres with moderate to good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was encountered at 1650 metres below sea level.

In the Kobbe Formation, the well encountered gas and oil columns of about 240 metres, a total of 55 metres of which were sandstone layers with poor to moderate reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered.

Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery, in the segment that was drilled, are between 0.5 and 2.1 million Sm3 recoverable oil equivalent. The potential in the other segments could be comparable or larger. The licensees will consider whether to drill an appraisal well, and possibly tie the discovery back to existing infrastructure on the Goliat field.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out.

This is the ninth exploration well in production licence 229, which was awarded in the Barents Sea Project in 1997.

Well 7122/8-1 S was drilled to respective vertical and measured depths of 2639 and 2957 metres below sea level, and was terminated in the Kobbe Formation in the Middle Triassic.

Water depth at the site is 399 metres.

The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 7122/8-1 S was drilled by the Transocean Enabler drilling facility, which will now return to wildcat well 7122/9-1 in production licence 229E in the southern part of the Barents Sea, where Vår Energi ASA is the operator, to complete the remaining plugging of the well.