Tullow Oil has announced that the Hanssen wildcat well in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway, has encountered a 20-25 metre oil bearing sandstone with good reservoir properties in the main target. The well, in production licence 537, was drilled about 7 kilometres northwest of the Wisting Central oil discovery and about 315 kilometres north of Hammersfest.
The well also encountered hydrocarbon bearing sandstones in the Late Triassic and in the Middle Triassic but in poor reservoirs. Tullow said extensive coring and sampling have been carried out in all hydrocarbon bearing formations.
The discovery was tested and produced a maximum production rate of 2,006 barrels per day (bbls/d) of oil and 325,000 standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) of gas from a short test interval in a vertical well.
Tullow, which has a 20 per cent interest in the licence, anticipates that production rates from future development wells would be significantly higher. It said preliminary volume estimates of up to 50 million barrels of recoverable oil from this discovery confirm the potential of the Wisting cluster.
The 7324/7-2 well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,679 metres by the Transocean Barents rig in a water depth of 417.5 metres. The well will now be plugged and abandoned.
“This success is an important follow-up to our Wisting Central oil discovery in September last year which opened up the Hoop area. The Hanssen discovery gives us significant insight into the potential of the Wisting cluster and further confidence that we are on track towards proving up a major new commercial oil resource. We and our partners are preparing to drill the Hassel and Bjaaland wells in the eastern part of the Wisting cluster next year,” said Tullow’s exploration director Angus McCoss.
In a note to investors, Davy said the news that the well has hit a decent interval of oil-bearing sand moves the area closer to an eventual commercial outcome.
Tullow, which is quoted on the Irish, London and Ghanaian stock exchanges, has interests in over 140 exploration and production licences across 24 countries.
