Wintershall Dea Norge, has made a minor oil discovery in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea, offshore Norway, following the drilling of exploratory well 6611/1-1 in production licence 896.

As per preliminary estimates, the size of the new oil discovery in the North Sea is not commercially viable as it has less than a million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil.

The wildcat well 6611/1-1 was drilled nearly 150 kilometres northeast of the Norne field and around 150 kilometres southwest of Bodø.

The well’s objective was to find petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Jurassic Age (the Tilje and Åre Formations).

Drilled by the West Hercules drilling rig, the wildcat well 6611/1-1 intersected nearly seven metres of oil-bearing sandstone in the upper part of the assumed Jurassic sequence. The sandstone, which is not yet dated, has moderate to good reservoir quality, as per a press release from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

The exploratory well 6611/1-1 encountered a total of nearly 200 metres of sandstones in what are believed to be the exploration targets in the Tilje and Åre Formations, with moderate to good reservoir quality. The sandstones are said to be water-bearing.

The well was not formation-tested, however, data has been gathered and samples have been taken. It was drilled to a vertical depth of 1874 metres under sea level, and was terminated in rocks from the Triassic Age.

6611/1-1 marks the first exploration well in production licence 896, which was awarded in APA 2016. Water depth at the location is 357 metres

The wildcat well, which made the new oil discovery in the North Sea has now been plugged permanently and abandoned.

The West Hercules drilling rig will now sail towards the exploitation licence 001 where Equinor Energy is the operator for the drilling of well 31/5-7.

  North Sea, Norway, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Production licence 896, West Hercules drilling rig, Wintershall Dea, Wintershall Dea Norge