A wildcat has been spudded by Statoil on the Lerke prospect in the Norne area of the Norwegian Sea on 23 January.
Expected to take about two months to complete, this well is being drilled between the Svale and Stær discoveries. These were made in the spring of 2000 and the spring of 2002 respectively.
The hope is that Lerke contains oil, reports Roger Inge Johansen, Statoil’s exploration manager for the area.
“A possible discovery could be integrated with Svale and Stær in a subsea development tied back to our Norne production ship,” he explains.
With a solution of that kind, production could get under way in 2005.
Designated 6608/10-9, the well is due to be drilled by Deepsea Bergen to a total measured depth of 2,380 metres.