Exploration drilling on Statoil's Uranus prospect in the Barents Sea has been completed without proving any hydrocarbons which are possible to produce.
Uranus is located in the North Cape basin 25 kilometres from a smaller oil and gas discovery called Pandora, which was discovered in 2001. The reservoir rock that was found in Pandora has not been proven by the exploration drilling on Uranus.
"We still believe that the reservoir rock has been developed on Uranus and other structures in this basin," says Ørjan Birkeland, Statoil's Barents Sea exploration manager.
"It's a great challenge to get a correct seismic picture of the subsurface of this geologically complex area. We will use this well information to evaluate the potential of the area," says Mr Birkeland.
Exploration well 7227/11-1 in production licence 202 was drilled from the Eirik Raude rig. The prospect is located around 125 kilometres north-northeast of North Cape.
The rig will be moved to the Norwegian Sea to drill an exploration well on the Statoil-operated Edvarda prospect.
Partners in production licence 202 are Statoil with 70 per cent, and Hydro with 30 per cent.