The West Alpha rig has started drilling an appraisal well for operator Statoil in the Morvin structure in the Norwegian Sea.
The drilling operation began on 24 March and is expected to take just over four months.
Kjell Martin Edin, senior geologist in the Halten/Nordland area and project manager for well 6506/11-8, reports that Morvin is an oil discovery on the Halten Terrace.
Morvin lies in production licence 134b, about 10 kilometres from the Statoil-operated Kristin field. Like Kristin, Morvin is challenging owing to high pressure and high temperature in the reservoir.
In 2001, Statoil drilled an exploration well on Morvin and found light crude. The well where the find was made was drilled at the top of the structure. The purpose of the new well is to appraise the extent of the find and clarify whether the resources are sufficient to justify a development.
"If oil is proven in the well, it is likely that Morvin will be a subsea development phased in to Kristin or Ã…sgard," says Mr Edin.
The well is set to be drilled to a depth of about 4,800 metres below sea level. Water depth in the area is 380 metres.
Statoil has a 50 per cent interest in production licence 134b. The other licensees are Eni (30), Hydro (14) and Total (6).