The Sigrun East discovery is estimated to hold 1.0-2.7 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalent or 7-17 million barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable resources
Equinor, Neptune make oil discovery at Sigrun East prospect. (Credit: Equinor ASA)
Equinor and Neptune Energy have made a new oil discovery in production licence PL025/187 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf following the drilling of the Sigrun East prospect.
The Sigrun East prospect was drilled by the 15/3-12S and 15/3-12AT2 exploration wells in the North Sea, nearly 11km south-east of the producing Gudrun field.
The new oil discovery is estimated to hold 1.0-2.7 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalent or 7-17 million barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable resources. The partners will evaluate a potential tie-back of the Sigrun East discovery with the Gudrun platform.
Equinor Norway and the UK exploration senior vice president Nick Ashton said: “Sigrun East is a win-win. Exploring near existing infrastructure we prove resources that can be profitably realized, while producing with low CO2 emissions.”
How the Sigrun East discovery was made
The 15/3-12S and 15/3-12AT2 wells are follow-up wells to the Sigrun appraisal well (15/3-11), which was drilled in 2018. The objective of drilling the exploratory wells was to prove additional resources in the licence and for clarifying the commercial basis.
As per the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the 15/3-12 S and 15/3-12 A wells were drilled to vertical depths of 3652m and 3796m below sea level, respectively, in 109m of water.
The wildcat well 15/3-12 S intersected three separate oil-filled reservoir zones of 9m, 4m, and 9m in the Hugin Formation, which are roughly 100m thick. The reservoir zones primarily have moderate reservoir quality.
The two wells were drilled as sole risk wells by Equinor Energy and Neptune Energy Norge, with stakes of 75% and 25%, respectively. In PL025/187, Equinor Energy (36% operatorship stake) and Neptune Energy Norge (25%) are partnered by OMV Norge (24%), and Repsol Norge (15%).
Neptune Energy Norway exploration and development director Steinar Meland said: “This is our second exploration discovery together on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) within a few months, following the Echino South announcement in November last year.
“This latest discovery will add valuable resources to the Sigrun development, which is located in one of our core areas on the NCS.
“The Sigrun East wells demonstrate how important exploration is to our company’s growth strategy in Norway. Within a short time, Neptune will have two drilling rigs on contract as operator of six explorations wells to be drilled on the NCS within the next two years.”