Vår Energi ASA, operator of production licence 229 E, has completed the drilling of wildcat well 7122/9-1.

The well was drilled about 27 kilometres northeast of the Goliat field in the southern part of the Barents Sea and 85 km from Hammerfest.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in lower Triassic reservoir rocks in the Havert Formation, as well as to investigate the reservoir quality in the Ørret Formation in the Upper Permian.

Well 7122/9-1 encountered a 55-metre gas column in the Havert Formation, in sandstone layers totalling 46 metres with moderate to good reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was not encountered. In the Ørret Formation, the well encountered an aquiferous sandstone reservoir with poor to moderate reservoir quality.

Preliminary estimates of the size of the discovery are between 57-132 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent (9-21 billion Sm3 recoverable gas resources).  

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out.

This is the first exploration well in production licence 229 E, which was awarded as part of PL 229 in the Barents Sea Project '97 and carved out from PL 229 Goliat in 2018.

Well 7122/9-1 was drilled to a vertical depth of 1906 metres below sea level and was terminated in the Ørret Formation in the Upper Permian.

Water depth at the site is 403 metres, and the well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 7122/9-1 was drilled by the Transocean Enabler drilling facility. The facility is now headed back to continue drilling wildcat well 7122/8-1 S in production licence 229 in the southern part of the Barents Sea, where Vår Energi ASA is the operator.

The well confirms our hub-focused strategy says Rune Oldervoll, EVP Exploration & Production: 
"The Lupa discovery further strengthens our foothold in the north. The discovery could serve as another step towards realising additional gas infrastructure in the Barents Sea in the future. We have a long-term growth strategy for the Barents Sea and will continue to chase new opportunities for value creation." 

Alessandro Barberis, VP Exploration, applauds the exploration team. 
"This is the largest discovery on the shelf this year and comes as a Christmas gift. I want to give credit to our highly skilled and dedicated exploration professionals, continuing to perform, placing Vår Energi amongst the top explorers on the Norwegian shelf."

Vår Energi holds a 50% stake in the PL229E license, with Aker BP (50%) making up the rest of the JV. 

KeyFacts Energy: Vår Energi Norway country profile   l   Aker bp Norway country profile   l   KeyFacts Energy: Discovery news

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