A wildcat has been spudded on Statoil’s Gråspett oil prospect in the Norwegian Sea, and should take about a month to complete.
The well is being drilled from Stena Don on behalf of the partners in production licence 128. Gråspett lies in block 6608/10 close to Statoil’s Norne field.
The group has previously found oil in the nearby Stær, Falk, Lerke and Svale structures, but none of these is large enough to support a stand-alone development.
“We’re considering various solutions for phasing the finds into the Norne production ship,” explains Knut Chr Grindstad, vice president for exploration in Halten/Nordland.
“One option is to link them in a cluster with a shared tie-in to the vessel. We have hopes for the Gråspett wildcat, where a discovery would strengthen the prospects for such a solution.”
Preliminary plans call for well 6608/10-10 to be drilled to a total depth of 2,800 metres.
In addition to Statoil with 40,455 per cent, the partners in PL 128 are Norsk Hydro with 13.500 per cent, Norsk Agip 11,500 per cent, Shell/Enterprise 10 per cent and Petoro 24,545 per cent.