Lundin Norway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swedish oil and gas exploration and production company Lundin Petroleum, has completed the drilling and logging of 16/1-23 S appraisal well in the Edvard Grieg field of the Norwegian North Sea.

Located in PL338 in water depth of 108m, the well has been drilled about 2.4km southeast of the Edvard Grieg platform, using jack-up rig Rowan Viking.

The drilling was done to further define the southeastern part of the Edvard Grieg field as well as to test incremental resource potential in this region.

During the drilling of the appraisal well, the company has encountered a 66m gross oil column in pebbly sandstone with medium to good reservoir quality.

Lundin said that the results of the extensive data acquisition and sampling of the well will be used to determine the favorable location for production wells in the area.

Lundin Petroleum President and CEO Ashley Heppenstall said: "This well, together with last year’s appraisal well in the same area of the field, will in my opinion result in an increase to the Edvard Grieg reserves at the end of this year."

Drilled to a depth of 2,043m, the well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well represents the tenth exploration/appraisal well in PL338 of which seven have been drilled on the Edvard Grieg field.

Lundin Norway operates PL338 with 50% while OMV Norge owns 205, Statoil Petroleum 15% and Wintershall Norge 15%.