Repsol Norge has drilled a dry well about 80km northwest of the Aasta Hansteen field in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea.
The wildcat well 6705/7-1 is the first exploration well in licence 705 which was awarded to the Norwegian global energy firm during the 22nd licensing round four years ago.
Repsol Norge intended to prove presence of petroleum traces in Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks (Nise formation) in the well.
The operator stated that well 6705/7-1 came across two reservoir intervals having a combined thickness of nearly 200mts of sandstone in the Nise formation.
The intervals seemed to have good to moderate reservoir quality but the reservoir rocks did not indicate enough traces of gas.
The well was drilled using a Transocean Spitsbergen drilling facility to a vertical depth of 3250mts below the sea surface before it was terminated in the Nise formation in the Upper Cretaceous.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s exploration drilling results, water depth at the drilling site was found to be 1404mts. Following the unproductive drilling, Well 6705/7-1 has been plugged permanently and abandoned.
The oil rig after a short break will move to the UK shelf where it is scheduled to drill three exploration wells for Statoil.
In October 2015, Repsol Norge had come across a dry well, which it found out after drilling the Well 6306/5-2 in production licence 642 in the Njord field in the Norwegian Sea.
Image: Map showing the location of well 6705/7-1 in production licence 705. Photo: courtesy of Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.