Statoil’s Discovery in Frontier Area of Barents Sea Non-Commercial

Statoil stated on Friday that its gas discovery in a frontier unexplored area of the Barents Sea northwest of Johan Castberg is non-commercial. The volumes in Pingvin are estimated in the range of 30-120 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.  

“Pingvin is the first well drilled in PL713 – a large frontier area northwest of Johan Castberg awarded in the 22nd concession round. For a discovery in this area to be commercially viable it needs to be an oil accumulation of a significant size. A gas discovery does not have commercial value at present,” Dan Tuppen, vice president exploration Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea, commented in a note.

However, Tuppen said that the finding is a positive signal, as it has proven hydrocarbons in sandstones. 

“This indicates that we have both a reservoir and a working hydrocarbon system in the area, and creates a good basis for further subsurface work in the licence.”

Exploration well 7319/12-1 is located in PL713 about 65 kilometres northwest of the Johan Castberg discovery. Statoil is operator with an interest of 40%. The partners are RN Nordic Oil AS (20%), North Energy ASA (20%) and Edison International Norway Branch (20%).