Equinor and Aker BP said exploration well 25/7-13 found gas and condensate in the Linga prospect, 16 kilometers northwest of the Balder field and 205 kilometers west of Stavanger. Preliminary estimates put recoverable resources at between 0.1 and 2.1 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent.
Equinor operated the well, with Aker BP as partner, in production license 782 S. The license was awarded in 2015 under Norway's Awards in Predefined Areas round for acreage already opened to exploration. Well 25/7-13 was the third well drilled in the license, and the partners are now reviewing this result together with the earlier wells to weigh further exploration potential in the area.
What the well found
The target was the Draupne Formation, a Late Jurassic reservoir rock layer equivalent to the Brae Formation. The well encountered gas and condensate in separate sandstone layers within that formation, with a combined thickness of 13 meters, though the reservoir rock was of moderate quality. Drilling reached a vertical depth of 4,606 meters below sea level before the well was stopped in the Heather Formation, another Late Jurassic layer, in water 126 meters deep.
The well was not tested for flow rate, but Equinor and Aker BP collected data and samples, including rock cores and hydrocarbon samples, before permanently plugging and abandoning it. Norway's Offshore Directorate confirmed the result.
The COSL Innovator rig that drilled well 25/7-13 is now moving to production license 50 HS in the northern North Sea, where it will drill wildcat well 34/10-56 S, also operated by Equinor.
