Lundin to complete drilling at Edvard Grieg appraisal well

STAVANGER, Norway -- Lundin Norway, operator of production license (PL) 338, is in the process of completing the drilling of appraisal well 16/1-23 S on Edvard Grieg field in the central section of the North Sea.

Appraisal well 16/1-23 S is 2.4 km southeast of the Edvard Grieg platform. The well encountered a total oil column of 67 m in conglomorate sandstone with moderate to good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was encountered 1,933.5 m below the sea surface, which is 5.5 m shallower than the contact in the rest of the field.

The field was proven in the autumn of 2007 and consists of Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic reservoir rocks. Prior to well 16/1-23 S being drilled, the operator's resource estimate for the field was 29.8 MMscf of recoverable oil.

The purpose of the well was to investigate reservoir rocks, reservoir properties and the oil/water contact as regards delineating the south-eastern section of Edvard Grieg field. In addition, the purpose was to optimize the drainage strategy for the best possible location of production wells in this area.

Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. A total of five small-scale formation tests (mini DSTs) have been carried out in the oil and water zone, with test production of one-meter intervals through the drilling string. The tests in the oil zone showed good flow properties, whereas the flow rate was moderate in the water zone.

Preliminary calculations show that the results from the well may result in an increase of between 1 and 8 MMscm of recoverable oil in this section of Edvard Grieg field. Further work is expected to reduce the uncertainty of this estimate.

This is the tenth exploration well in PL338 and the seventh exploration well on Edvard Grieg field. The licence was awarded in APA 2004. 

Appraisal well 16/1-23 S was drilled to a measured and vertical depth of 2,130 m and 2,043 m, respectively, below the sea surface and terminated in granite bedrock. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned. Water depth at the site is 108 m.

The well was drilled by the drilling facility Rowan Viking, which now will continue to drill production and injection wells on Edvard Grieg field.