Page 20 - Euroil Week 28 2020

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
EurOil
Equinor makes minor oil discovery off Norway
Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor has made a minor oil discovery near the Vigdis field in the North Sea offshore Norway.
Equinor has completed the drilling of wildcat well 34/7-E-4 AH just northwest of the Vigdis Vest field in the northern part of the North Sea and 160 km west of Floro.
The well is located in production licence 089 where Equinor is the operator.
The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic Age (the Rannoch Formation).
The well 34/7-E-4 AH encountered
an oil column of about 20 metres in the Rannoch Formation, 18 metres of which are sandstone of good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was encountered at a depth of 2479 metres.
The preliminary calculation of the size of the discovery is between 0.9 and 1.5mn cubic metres of recoverable oil.
So far, the discovery is presumed to be commercial and will be considered for tie- in to the Vigdis field.
The well was not formation tested, but data acquisition and sampling were carried out.
This is the 41st exploration well in production licence 089. Production licence 089 was awarded in 1984 in the 8th licensing round.
The well 34/7-E-4 AH was drilled
as a shallow sidetrack from existing development well 34/7-E-4 H on the Vigdis field, to a vertical depth of 2517 metres below sea level and a measured depth of 4459 metres.
It was terminated in the Rannoch Formation from the Middle Jurassic Age.
Water depth at the site is 283 metres. The reservoir section will be temporarily plugged back.
The well was drilled by the Transocean Norge drilling rig, which is now scheduled to drill a development well on the Visund Sør field in the northern part of the North Sea, where Equinor is also the operator.
Neptune Energy readies for Dugong sidetrack
Neptune Energy has opted to drill a sidetrack well to further evaluate the size of its Dugong
discovery located in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
e Dugong well is located in licence PL882, which is operated by Neptune Energy with a 40% stake with Petrolia NOCO, Concedo, and Idemitsu Petroleum each holding 20% shares.
Neptune con rmed it had discovered hydrocarbons at its Dugong well on July 3. Upon entering the reservoir, logs and
cuttings identi ed hydrocarbons and a decision was made to initiate coring.
At the time, Neptune said that a contingent sidetrack might be drilled to further de ne the extent of the discovery.
In a short update on Friday, July 10 Petrolia said that the partners had decided to drill that sidetrack well to further evaluate the size of Dugong discovery.
Petrolia previously said that Dugong prospect contains prospective recoverable resources of 86mn boe.
e Dugong well was drilled using
the Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible rig, owned by CIMC and operated by Od ell Drilling.
e well is located 158 km west of Florø, Norway, at a water depth of 330 metres.
It is close to the existing production facilities of the Snorre eld. e reservoir lies at a depth of 3,250-3,400 metres.
OKEA takes position in Equinor discovery
OKEA has reached a sales and purchase agreement with Equinor for the acquisition of its 40% stake in two licences o shore Norway, which include the Aurora discovery.
e acquisition of interests in licences PL195 and PL195 B is e ective as of January 1 2020, OKEA said on July 15.
Aurora is a small gas discovery in the North Sea located west of the Gjoa eld. OKEA estimates that the recoverable
volumes are in the range of 12-28mn barrels of oil equivalent.
Wintershall DEA and Petoro hold respectively 25% and 35% positions in the licences.
OKEA aims to become the operator for the licences and pursue a low-cost development of Aurora as a tie-in to the Gjoa platform without further appraisal drilling.
Both the transaction and a potential change in operatorship are subject to approval by the Ministry of Petroleum and
Energy.
Erik Haugane, CEO of OKEA, said:
“By this transaction, we are diversifying our portfolio as well as strengthening our position in the Gjøa area.
“A development of Aurora ts right into the core of OKEA’s strategy with low-cost eld development of smaller discoveries”.
Head Energy wins contract
extension from Wintershall
Dea
Engineering and consulting company Head Energy has been awarded an extension of
a frame agreement with Wintershall Dea concerning modi cations at the Brage platform o shore Norway.
Head Energy was awarded the frame agreement for modi cations at Brage in 2016.
e extension means that the contract now runs to 2022, Head Energy said on July 13.
CEO of Head Energy Group, Morten Leikvoll, said: “We have always argued
that there is room for new actors in the maintenance & modi cations market that o ers more exibility and more cost- e ective execution models. Wintershall Dea had faith in us and has given us the chance to prove ourselves”.
Wintershall Dea also in March 2020 awarded a contract for two well hook-ups at the Brage platform to Head Energy.
Brage is Wintershall Dea’s rst manned platform in Norway. Located in the northern North Sea, 125 km west of Bergen, it is one of the oldest producing platforms in Norway. First discovered in 1980, the eld came into production in 1993 and has been in operation for more than 25 years.
e German company took over operatorship of Brage in 2013 as part of an asset swap with Equinor, then Statoil.
Brage has been developed as a xed integrated production, drilling, and accommodation facility with a steel jacket.
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Week 28 16•July•2020