Equinor makes gas discovery near Johan Castberg field, Barents Sea
Equinor and its partners have made a gas discovery in the Skred prospect. This is the 15th exploration well in production license 532, which was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009.
Well 7220/5-4 was drilled by the COSLProspector drilling rig about 23 km north of discovery well 7220/8-1 on the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea and 210 km northwest of Hammerfest. It was drilled to a vertical depth of 2144 m below sea level, and was terminated in the Fruholmen Formation from the Late Triassic.
The well encountered a 14-m gas column in the Stø Formation, in sandstone totaling 70 m and with good reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was encountered 1849 m below sea level. In the lower part of the Nordmela Formation, the well also encountered gas in a 3-m thick isolated sandstone layer with moderate to good reservoir quality.
Preliminary calculations indicate the size of the discovery is between 0.3 and 0.5 billion standard cu m of recoverable gas. This corresponds to 1.9–3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent. The licensees will assess the discovery with a view toward a possible tie-in to the Johan Castberg field.
The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
