Statoil Finds Gas West of Valemon

Statoil has made a new gas discovery, called Valemon West, estimated to contain between 20mn and 50mn barrels of oil equivalent.

Exploration well 34/11-6 S was drilled 160km northwest of Bergen using the jack-up rig West Elara, which is permanently stationed at the Valemon field facility. The well is currently being completed and put on stream from the Valemon platform. Valemon itself came onstream on January 3 2015.

"We are very pleased to announce our second discovery in 2017. Discoveries like this one and Cape Vulture are valuable contributions to existing fields," said Jez Averty, Statoil’s head of Norway/UK exploration, February 3. It is the seventh exploration well to be drilled on PL 193D (Valemon unit) whose partners are operator Statoil 53.775%, state holding Petoro 30%, Centrica 13% and Shell 3.225%.

Jez Averty, Statoil’s head of Norway/UK exploration (Photo credit: Statoil)

The Valemon gas and condensate field in the North Sea holds 192mn boe. Its gas is transported via an existing pipeline from Huldra to Heimdal, then onward to Europe, while condensate is piped to the Kvitebjorn field then to shore at Mongstad, north of Bergen.

Norwegian upstream regulator NPD also said February 3 a delineation well on the Johan Sverdrup oilfield, also in the North Sea, encountered an oil column but that, based on preliminary calculations, the operator Statoil's resource estimate for the field will not be changed.

Mark Smedley