rig

The 19-month drilling program also involved testing new areas of the Flemish Pass Basin, located about 500km east of St John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador.

During the exploration drilling program, Statoil and its partners drilled nine wells including four exploration wells close to the 2013 Bay du Nord discovery and three appraisal wells on the discovery.

The Seadrill West Hercules drilling rig was used to drill the wells in the Flemish Pass Basin. Drilling work commenced in 2014.

The program was extended by one month to incorporate the drilling of Baccalieu well on a license awarded by the C-NLOPB last year.

Statoil exploration Northern Hemisphere senior vice-president Erling Vågnes said: "We are encouraged by the discoveries in the Bay de Verde and Baccalieu wells and the results of the appraisal wells.

"The Flemish Pass Basin offshore Newfoundland is a frontier area, where only 17 wells have been drilled in the entire basin, in an area that is 30,000 square kilometres."

The exploration campaign confirmed the initial oil recovery estimate done in 2013, which predicted that the Bay du Nor well will be between 300 and 600 million barrels.

Statoil Canada president Paul Fulton said: "The recent drilling program has been critical to Statoil’s continued assessment of Bay du Nord, and work is underway to evaluate the results related to proceeding with a potential Statoil-operated development in the Flemish Pass Basin."

Statoil is currently assessing the commercial potential of the Bay du Nord discovery.


Image: The Seadrill West Hercules drilling rig. Photo: courtesy of Ole Jørgen Bratland/Statoil.