Statoil discovers gas and condensate in North Sea Julius prospect
Statoil, the operator of PL146/PL333, and its partner Total E&P Norge have made a gas and condensate discovery in the Julius prospect in the King Lear area in the North Sea. The discovery well 2/4-23S, drilled by the Maersk Gallant jackup, proved gas and condensate in the Ula formation. Statoil estimates the recoverable volumes in Julius to be between 15 million and 75 million BOE.
The 2/4-23S well also aimed to appraise the King Lear gas and condensate discovery made by the PL146/PL333 partnership in 2012.
The well provided important information on reservoir distribution and reservoir communication in the King Lear discovery. The acquired data will now be further analyzed.
It is expected that the King Lear volumes will stay within the previously communicated range of 70-200 million recoverable BOE.
“The King Lear and Julius discoveries are located in one of the most mature parts of the Norwegian continental shelf – just 20 km north of Ekofisk, the first commercial NCS discovery made 45 years ago. The discoveries confirm Statoil’s view that even such mature areas of the NCS still have an interesting exploration potential,” May-Liss Hauknes, Statoil Vice President for Exploration in the North Sea, said.
“Since the King Lear discovery, the main focus of the license partnership has been to clarify the resource basis within PL146/PL333,” Edward Prestholm, acting Head of Early Phase Field Development on the NCS in Statoil, said. “Following the positive results of the Julius well, the partnership will start working on an optimal plan for a timely development of the discovered resources. The Julius discovery will be included in the resource base for a future PL146/PL333 development decision.”
