Aker BP and Equinor drilled a dry exploration well in the North Sea, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. Well 15/6-17, in the Svarteknippa prospect, has been permanently plugged and abandoned after finding only weak hydrocarbon indicators.
The well is the first drilled in production licence 979, which was awarded through the Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) process in 2018. Svarteknippa sits 15 kilometers west of the Solveig field and 220 kilometers west of Stavanger. The Scarabeo 8 rig drilled the well in 102 meters of water.
What the well found
The primary target was to prove hydrocarbons in the Middle Jurassic Hugin and Sleipner formations. Near that target, the well encountered 97 meters of the Vestland Group, including 8 meters of sandstone with moderate to poor reservoir quality. Weak hydrocarbon indicators were recorded there.
The secondary target was the Draupne and Heather formations. The well found 191 meters of the Draupne Formation and 104 meters of the Heather Formation, but reservoir rocks were not proven in either.
Well 15/6-17 reached a vertical depth of 3,704 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Smith Bank Formation in the Triassic. Aker BP and Equinor secured a 54-meter core in the Vestland Group as part of data acquisition on the well.
A mature part of the North Sea
Exploration in the central North Sea has recently produced mostly minor discoveries close to existing infrastructure, and the area is defined as mature. Aker BP and Equinor have been the dominant exploration companies there.
