Norwegian oil and gas company StatoilHydro has completed the drilling of an exploration well in the Curran prospect which lies in the western part of the Oseberg area in the North Sea. The results show an oil discovery in the upper part of the Brent group.
According to the company, exploration well 30/8-4 S was drilled by the Transocean Winner semi-submersible drilling unit. Hydrocarbons were struck in the upper parts of the Brent group and drilling was terminated in Middle Jurassic rocks.
The purpose of the drilling was to test a petroleum trap which lies south of Tune, below one of the north-south running faults in the Oseberg area. No wells have ever before been drilled in this type of trap in the same area, according to StatoilHydro.
The size of the find in the producible interval is within the uncertainty range of three million barrels of oil equivalent to 15.7 million barrels of oil equivalent, with most of the volumes as oil.
The well has been plugged and abandoned and a possible tie-back from the discovery to installations in the area will be considered. The Transocean Winner will now drill well 30/5-3 in the northern part of the Oseberg area.
Tom Dreyer, StatoilHydro’s vice president for exploration in the Oseberg area, said: We have made a small oil discovery in the Curran prospect south of the Tune field. With today’s oil price the field is not quite commercial but that could change in the time to come.
