Aker BP appraisal well increases North Sea discovery size near Symra

Aker BP and partners Equinor and DNO raised the projected size of the Verdandi and Lillefix discoveries in the North Sea after drilling appraisal well 16/1-EA-4 H with Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Nordkapp semisubmersible. Preliminary calculations put the discoveries at 1.3 million to 2.4 million cu m of oil equivalent, or 8 million to 15 million barrels. Before drilling, the partners had estimated 0.6 million to 1.9 million cu m, or 4 million to 12 million barrels.

The well was drilled horizontally from the subsea template on the Symra field, about 200 km west of Stavanger, in 116 m of water. It was the 11th exploration well in production license 167, which was awarded in the 13th licensing round. The partners are now evaluating profitability and whether the discoveries could be tied back to Symra.

The well was designed to prove Paleocene reservoir rocks in the Heimdal Formation and to confirm the reservoir’s extent and presumed oil-water contact. It encountered a 14-m gas column and a 44-m oil column in Heimdal sandstones, with the gas-oil contact at 1,776 m below sea level. It then drilled 1,515 m horizontally through the oil zone in reservoir of moderate quality. The well reached a vertical depth of 1,864 m below sea level, terminated in the Heimdal Formation and has been permanently plugged and abandoned.