During the drilling of exploration well 7226/2-1 in the Barents Sea, StatoilHydro, the operator of the license, has struck gas in a prospect named Ververis. The drilling in 347m of water was performed by the Polar Pioneer drilling rig.
This is the 13th discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf made by StatoilHydro in 2008. The main purpose of the well was to confirm the existence of hydrocarbons in early Jurassic to mid-Jurassic sandstones.
The well confirmed the existence of gas in mid-Jurassic sandstones. No gas or water contact was established. Nor has any formation leak-off test been conducted, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have taken place.
Ververis is the first well in production license 395, which was awarded in the 19th licensing round in 2006. The licensees in production license 395 include operator StatoilHydro with a 50% stake, BG Norge with 30% and Petoro with a 20% stake.
