Spirit Energy Norway has failed to find any hydrocarbons in production licence 780 (PL 780), 5km north of the Ivar Aasen field in the Norwegian North Sea, following the drilling of wildcat well 16/1-33 S.

The operator of the PL 780 licence drilled the wildcat well 16/1-33 S with the Leiv Eiriksson drilling facility in the central part of the North Sea, and nearly 200 km west of Stavanger.

The goal of the well was to determine the presence of petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Middle Jurassic (Sleipner Formation) and the Upper Triassic (Skagerrak Formation).

The 16/1-33 S well intersected the Sleipner Formation with a thickness of nearly 205 meters, with 85 metres of aquiferous sandstone layers of moderate to very good reservoir quality.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Skagerrak Formation came in at a thickness of around 75 meters, with a total of 15 metres of aquiferous sandstone layers having moderate to good reservoir properties.

The well has been declared to be dry and was not formation-tested. However, data acquisition was performed.

16/1-33 S is the first exploration well to be drilled in PL 780 and was awarded in APA 2014. It was drilled to vertical and measured depths of 3042 metres and 3158 metres below sea level, respectively, in water depths of 116 metres, and was terminated in the Skagerrak Formation in the Upper Triassic.

The wildcat well will now be plugged permanently and abandoned.

Tje Leiv Eiriksson drilling facility will now move ahead to spud wildcat well 6507/4-1 in PL 1009 in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea, where ConocoPhillips Skandinavia is the operator.

  Ivar Aasen field, Leiv Eiriksson drilling facility, North Sea, Norway, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, PL 780, Spirit Energy, Spirit Energy Norway