Sigrun East oil discovery : Equinor, Neptune find more oil in PL 025

Sigrun East oil discovery : Equinor and its partner Neptune Energy have pulled off an oil discovery in the Sigrun East prospect in the Norwegian North Sea, believed to have estimated recoverable resources of 7-17 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The oil discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf was made in production licence PL 025 in the central part of the North Sea following the drilling of the 15/3-12 S and 15/3-12 A wildcat wells.

Drilled nearly 11 kms southeast of the Gudrun field in PL025, 4 kms southeast of the Sigrun oil and gas discovery, and 220 kms west of Stavanger, the two wildcat wells were drilled as sole risk wells by Equinor and its partner Neptune Energy Norge.

The main well – 15/3-12 S showed the presence of oil across three zones in moderate-quality sandstone in the Hugin formation.

According to Equinor, the Sigrun East wildcat wells are follow-up wells to the Sigrun appraisal well (15/3-11) drilled about a couple of years ago. The goal of the two exploratory wells was to prove extra resources and understand their commercial basis.

Map showing the Sigrun East oil discovery. Image courtesy of Equinor ASA.

Commenting on the Sigrun East oil discovery, Nick Ashton – Equinor senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the UK, said: “Sigrun East is a win-win. Exploring near existing infrastructure we prove resources that can be profitably realized, while producing with low CO2 emissions.

“We have said that we aim to be an industry leader on carbon-efficient production. Sigrun East contributes towards this end. Calculations so far indicate that we will manage to produce the oil with carbon emissions below 8 kg/barrel.”

Equinor said that based on the positive exploration results efforts targeted at developing and producing the oil through the Gudrun field will be initiated, which could offer substantial added value.

The wildcat wells were drilled by using the West Phoenix drilling rig to a vertical depth (TD) of 3810 metres and 4038 metres, respectively in 109 metres of water. The West Phoenix drilling rig will now sail to PL889 in the Norwegian Sea for the drilling of a new exploration well.

Steinar Meland – Neptune Energy Director of Exploration & Development in Norway, commenting on the Sigrun East oil discovery, said: “We are very pleased to be part of the Sigrun East discovery together with operator Equinor. This is our second exploration discovery together on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) within a few months, following the Echino South announcement in November last year.

“This latest discovery will add valuable resources to the Sigrun development, which is located in one of our core areas on the NCS. The Sigrun East wells demonstrate how important exploration is to our company’s growth strategy in Norway. Within a short time, Neptune will have two drilling rigs on contract as operator of six explorations wells to be drilled on the NCS within the next two years.”