North Sea gas discovery twice as big after appraisal success with tie-back on the table

Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor and its partners have achieved a twofold increase of their initial estimate for a gas discovery in the North Sea, revealing recoverable gas and condensate volumes of up to 180 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) following the drilling of an appraisal well. As a result, the partners are now eyeing a potential subsea tie-back to existing infrastructure to bring more gas to the European market.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has disclosed that Equinor, together with its partners, Orlen Upstream Norway, DNO Norge, and Wellesley Petroleum, drilled the 35/7-2 appraisal well about 35 kilometers northeast of the Kvitebjørn field on the 35/7-1 well, also known as the Afrodite discovery, which was made in 2008.

The well 35/7-2, which confirmed the gas and condensate discovery, was the second well drilled in production license 293, awarded in 2003 (North Sea Awards 2002). Equinor’s partner, Wellesley, is the operator of the well 35/7-2, which was drilled by the Deepsea Yantai rig.

The objective of 35/7-2 was to delineate the Afrodite discovery, leading the partners to encounter a 69-meter gas/condensate column in the Tarbert Formation and the upper part of the Ness Formation with reservoir rocks of poor quality. The gas/water contact was not made.

This story was originally published by Offshore Energy. Read the full story at Offshore Energy →