Norway Registers Year-on-Year Increase in Exploration Well Spuds
Norway reiterated its intention to speed up production, with a national institution reporting progress on the Norwegian shelf and Det Norske announcing it increased by 35% its P50 reserves for the Ivar Aasen development.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) wrote on Monday that the exploration activity on the shelf ‘remains vigour,’ with thirteen new discoveries made in 2014. At the same time, the NPD said that the explorations are on the rise.
‘Eight exploration wells are currently being drilled. As of 24 June, 33 exploration wells have been spudded and 33 terminated. For comparison, the number of exploration wells spudded in the first six months of 2013 was 28,’ reads a note released on Monday.
Most of the discoveries have been made by Statoil, but the largest has been made by VNG Norge.
‘Three discoveries have been made in the Norwegian Sea in the first half of this year. Southwest of the Njord field, VNG Norge AS proved oil and gas in well 6406/12-3 S (Pil) in the Rogn and Melke formations in the Upper Jurassic. A 226-metre hydrocarbon column was proven, of which 135 metres are oil in a reservoir with good flow properties. The preliminary size estimate for the discovery is between 6 and 21 million Sm3 of recoverable oil and between 2 and 6 billion Sm3 recoverable gas. This is the largest discovery made on the Norwegian shelf so far this year.’
Despite no plans for development and operation (PDOs0 have been submitted for discoveries on the Norwegian shelf in the first half of 2014, NPD expects ‘robust exploration activity’ in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea.
In the meantime, Det Norske increased its share in the Ivar Aasen development on the Utsira High in the North Sea. As a result of the inclusion of volumes from PL457 and PL338 and positive results from a well in PL457, the company also increased its reserve.
‘Det norske estimates that gross proven and probable (P50) reserves for the Ivar Aasen development (including Hanz) are about 210 million barrels of oil equivalents (mmboe), an increase of approximately 35 percent compared to end 2013 P50 reserves. Net to Det norske, this amounts to about 74 mmboe,’ the company wrote on Monday.
On the other end of the spectrum, the partners in the Johan Castberg licence decided to take time to go through the final concept selection for the project.
“The companies will continue efforts to mature the technical development solution, updating the resource basis and reducing cost leading up to the summer of 2015. The partners will also further assess the financial basis for an oil terminal at Veidnes,” Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil executive vice president for Development and Production Norway, commented as reported by a press release.
The partners in the Johan Castberg licence comprise Statoil, Eni and Petoro.