Oil discovery near the Snorre field in the North Sea – 34/4-15 S and 34/4-15 A

The wells were drilled about 10 kilometres northwest of the Snorre field and 160 kilometres west of Florø in the northern part of the North Sea.

The primary exploration target for well 34/4-15 S was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic Age (the Rannoch Formation).

The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Late Jurassic Age (Intra Draupne Formation sandstone).

An oil column of about 80 metres was encountered in the primary exploration target in the Rannoch Formation, 50 metres of which are sandstone with generally moderate reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered.

A sandstone layer of a few metres was encountered in the secondary exploration target in the Intra Draupne Formation, with poor reservoir quality and traces of petroleum.

The primary objective of well 34/4-15 A was to delineate the discovery in well 34/4-15 S in the Rannoch Formation.

The secondary exploration objective was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Late Jurassic Age (Intra Draupne Formation sandstone).

An oil column of about 80 metres was encountered in the primary exploration target in the Rannoch Formation, 17 metres of which are reservoir sandstone of generally poor reservoir quality. The oil/water contact has not yet been determined.

An oil column of about 100 metres was encountered in the secondary exploration target in the Intra Draupne Formation sandstone, 55 metres of which are in sandstone of poor to moderate reservoir quality.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery in the Rannoch Formation between 5 and 14 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery in the Intra Draupne Formation sandstone between 1.6 and 5 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil.

The discovery will be considered for tie-in to nearby infrastructure.

The wells were not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out.

These are the first and second exploration wells in production licence 882. Production licence 882 was awarded in APA 2016.

Wells 34/4-15 S and 34/4-15 A were drilled to respective vertical depths of 3430 and 3573 metres below sea level and respective measured depths of 3571 and 3844 metres, below sea level.

The wells were terminated in rocks from the Early Jurassic Age (the Drake Formation).

Water depth at the site is 332 metres. The wells will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The wells were drilled by the Deepsea Yantai drilling facility, which will now proceed to drill production wells in production licence 153 on the Gjøa field in the northeastern part of the North Sea, where Neptune Energy Norge AS is the operator.