After temporarily halting drilling activities due to a shallow gas discovery at the Arkenstone prospect in PL 1014, Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig has shifted its focus to the Mistral well in PL 1119, operated by Equinor.
OKEA, a partner in the project, holds a 30% stake after arranging a partial stake swap with DNO for two prospects, including the Mistral well. OKEA has now confirmed a hydrocarbon discovery in the Mistral exploration well (6406/6-7S) located in the southern Norwegian Sea. Preliminary estimates suggest that the recoverable oil equivalent volumes are between 3 and 7 million standard cubic meters, or roughly 19 to 44 million barrels.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,024 meters and encountered a 47-meter gas/condensate column within a 99-meter thick middle Jurassic sandstone formation with favorable reservoir properties. The Norwegian firm reported that extensive data was gathered to evaluate the reservoir and fluid characteristics.
The PL1119 license group, which includes Equinor (50% operator), Pandion Energy (20%), DNO Norge (10%), and OKEA (20%), will now assess the commercial potential of this discovery. They plan to explore development options, considering the use of existing infrastructure in the area.
This discovery follows another made by Equinor using the same rig in the North Sea, where previous commercial finds were made. The success further opens the possibility of tying back to existing infrastructure to combine recent discoveries along Norway’s coast.
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