Results from exploration well south of the Oselvar field in the North Sea – 1/3-13

The well was drilled near the 1/3-11 (Ipswich) oil discovery from 2008, about 6 kilometres south of the Oselvar field in the southern North Sea and 300 kilometres southwest of Stavanger.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Tor Formation from the Late Cretaceous Age.

Well 1/3-13 was drilled about 100 metres into water-bearing chalk in the Tor Formation, with good to very good porosity, but low permeability.

The well also encountered a 3-metre thick petroleum-bearing layer in the Ekofisk Formation from the Palaeocene, which is probably residual oil.

The well encountered oil in an 8-metre thick sandstone layer in the Forties Formation and a total of 3 metres of sandstone in the Andrew Formation, both from the Palaeocene Age. The oil/water contact was not proven.

The sandstones are of moderate to very good reservoir quality.

More detailed studies will be needed to determine potential connection between the proven resources in the Forties and Andrew Formations in 1/3-13 and the 1/3-11 (Ipswich) oil discovery.

The well was not formation-tested, but data acquisition has been carried out.

This is the first exploration well in production licence 970. The licence was awarded in APA2018.

Well 1/3-13 was drilled to a vertical depth of 3285 metres below sea level and was terminated in the upper part of the Tor Formation.

Water depth at the site is 71 metres. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 1/3-13 was drilled by the Maersk Integrator drilling facility, which will now drill development well 16/1-D-13 on the Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea, where Aker BP is the operator.