Dry appraisal well in the North Sea (15/6-18 S)

The well was drilled in production licence 1139, 13 kilometres north of Sleipner and 230 kilometres west of Stavanger. 15/6-18 S is the first exploration well drilled in production licence 1139. The discovery well from 2009, 15/6-10, was drilled in former production licence 029 B.

Before well 15/6-18 was drilled, the resource estimate for the discovery was between 2 and 4.2 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil equivalent (o.e.). This corresponds to between 12.6 and 26.4 million barrels of o.e.

The well did not prove additional volumes, and the resource estimate for "Freke" therefore remains unchanged. The licensees will now evaluate the discovery and clarify the commercial potential.

The well was drilled by the Deepsea Nordkapp rig.

Geological information

The objective of the well was to delineate the 15/6-10 discovery and investigate the potential for additional hydrocarbon volumes in reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic in the Vestland Group.

The well encountered 101 metres of rocks in the Sleipner Formation, 37 metres of which consisted of net sand with moderate reservoir quality. The well encountered oil shows in an interval of about 40 metres, but is classified as dry.

Extensive volumes of data have been collected, including a 36-metre-long core in the Vestland Group.

Well 15/6-18 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 3753 metres below sea level and was terminated in the Skagerrak Formation from the Triassic.

Water depth at the drilling site is 111 metres, and the well has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.