Aker BP makes oil discovery in PL 019 C near Gyda oil field, North Sea

Aker BP has made a minor oil discovery near the producing Repsol Norge-operated Gyda oil field in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea through the drilling of wildcat well 2/1-17 S in production licence 019 C (PL 019 C).

However, the latest oil discovery in the North Sea has been assessed to be not commercial. According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 0.5 and 1.5 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent. The discovery is assessed as not commercial.

Aker BP is the operator of production licence 019 C with 80% stake and is partnered by MOL Norge, which holds the remaining stake of 20%.

The 2/1-17 S exploratory well was drilled nearly 10 kilometres south of the Gyda field, around 280 kilometres southwest of Stavanger. It was drilled by the Maersk Interceptor drilling facility to a vertical depth of 4322 metres and a measured depth of 4334 metres below sea level.

The wildcat well was terminated in the Tyne Group in the Upper Jurassic, in water depth of 66 metres. The 2/1-17 S well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Aker BP makes minor oil discovery in PL 019 C near Gyda oil field, North Sea. Image courtesy of Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

The primary exploration target for the 2/1-17 S well was to establish the presence of petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Ula Formation). The secondary exploration target, on the other hand, was to confirm petroleum in deeper reservoir rocks in the Jurassic and Triassic (the Eldfisk, Bryne and Skagerrak Formations).

The primary exploration target was not achieved in the well, while the secondary exploration target had seen the intersecting of the Eldfisk Formation with a layer of nearly five metres of oil-bearing sandstones with good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered, as per the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

The wildcat well in production licence 019 C was not formation-tested, however extensive volumes of data have been taken. It is the second exploration well in production licence 019 C, which was awarded in the year 1998.

The Maersk Interceptor drilling facility will now move towards production licence 001 B to develop drill development wells at the Aker BP-operated Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea.

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