Hydro has made a small oil discovery during drilling of exploration well 25/11-24 near the Grane field in the North Sea.
The main objective for the well was to investigate the potential for oil in a prospect from the Tertiary period called Midway, localized southwest of the Grane field in the North Sea. A secondary objective was to examine the potential for oil in the Jurassic formations below.
The well was drilled to a total depth of 2,091 metres below the surface of the sea, culminating in rock layers from the Jurassic age.
Insignificant volumes of hydrocarbons were encountered in the rocks from the Tertiary age, but an oil discovery was made in sandstone from the Jurassic period.
“It was disappointing that our main aim was not achieved with this well, but the discovery in the Jurassic rock formations brings new possibilities which we will pursue further in this area. We will now evaluate the size and possible commerciality of the discovery that has been made,” says Vice President Tore Lilloe-Olsen, head of Exploration in Development Norway, in Hydro’s Oil & Energy business area.
The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Well 25/11-24 was drilled by the semi-submersible drilling unit Transocean Winner, at a water depth of 114 metres. Transocean Winner is now set to drill an exploration well on production licence 090, which is also operated by Hydro.
The licencees for production licence PL 169 are:
| Hydro (operator) | 45 % |
| Petoro | 30 % |
| ExxonMobil | 13 % |
| Statoil | 12 % |