Operator Statoil has completed the drilling of two appraisal wells at the Ermintrude find in the North Sea. Gas, condensate and oil have been proven.
Wells 15/6 A and B lie in production licence 303 seven kilometres north of the Sleipner area in the North Sea's central sector. Gas and condensate in sandstones of Jurassic age have been proven in well 15/6-9 A while oil has been proven in well 15/6-9 B in the same reservoir.
"The two successful appraisal wells have increased our understanding of the promising 15/6-9 S oil find, carried out in May this year, confirming its size to be eight to 12 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalent reserves," says Frode Fasteland, acting head of Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) exploration.
"Around half is gas/condensate and half is oil."
According to Mr Fasteland, the results are encouraging.
"This reinforces our belief that Ermintrude can add valuable additional resources to the Sleipner area and will be an important contributor to our ambition of producing one million barrels of oil equivalent per day from the NCS until 2015," he says.
The wells have not been production tested, but comprehensive data gathering and sampling have been carried out. Statoil will evaluate the need for further appraisal of the find and to what extent its development can be tied back to existing fields in the vicinity.
Both wells were drilled by the West Epsilon drilling rig in a water depth of 114 metres to a total depth of 3,580 and 3,870 metres respectively. Drilling was halted in rocks of the late Triassic. The wells were then permanently plugged and abandoned.
Statoil has a 100% interest in production licence 303.
West Epsilon will now drill appraisal well 16/2-3 in the Ragnarrock structure in production licence 265.