COSL Prospector drills gas and condensate discovery on Halten Terrace

Vår Energi and Equinor discovered gas and condensate at the Lakris prospect in the Gimsan Basin on the Halten Terrace. Preliminary calculations put the discovery at 0.2-0.9 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, or 1.3-5.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Wildcat well 6407/5-3 S, the first exploration well in production license 1002, was drilled about 170 km northwest of Kristiansund by the semisubmersible COSL Prospector in 218 m of water. The well reached a vertical depth of 4,225 m below sea level and was terminated in the Lower Jurassic. Vår Energi is operator of the license, with Equinor as partner.

The well encountered gas and condensate in 54 m of heterolithic reservoir rock of moderate to poor quality in the upper Tilje Formation, and the gas/water contact was not reached. It found hydrocarbon shows in the lower Tilje, no sandstone reservoir in the Nise Formation and aquiferous intervals in the Garn, Ile and Tofte formations. The well was not formation-tested, though data and samples were collected, and it will be permanently plugged and abandoned.