Hydro has proved that there are greater resources on the Oseberg South oil-field than previously assumed. The field's estimated resources have increased by almost 50 million barrels of oil in place, of which some 15 million barrels are recoverable.
The increased oil resources were proven in connection with the drilling of water injection well 30/9-F-26 on Oseberg South in the North Sea, approximately 130 kilometres northwest of Bergen. The newly proven resources are located above the main reservoir on the field.
"We have been able to demonstrate that there is oil in the sandstone as the result of a dedicated effort to identify the location of sand layers of an interesting depth in the Upper Jurassic," says exploration manager Nils Telnæs of Hydro Oil & Energy.
Coming on stream straight away
The oil now discovered will come on stream towards the end of the current month. It is expected that some 5,000 barrels per day will be produced.
A plan will also be drawn up for further drillling and production from the Upper Jurassic formation on Oseberg South.
The field itself consists of a production and drilling platform in addition to a subsea installation in the southern part of the field. Oil is also produced on the most northerly structure, by means of four wells drilled from the Oseberg Field Centre.
Oil production on Oseberg South started up in 2000 and 85 million barrels have been produced so far. This represents approximately 23 percent of the reserves expected to be recovered on the field. In the autumn of 2004 a new subsea installation on J-structure, east of the Oseberg South platform, will come on stream raising daily production to roughly 110,000 barrels per day.
Licensees:
- Norsk Hydro (operator) 34%,
- Petoro 33.6%
- Statoil 15.3%
- Total 10%
- ExxonMobil 4.7%
- ConocoPhillips 2.4 %