Equinor Energy AS, operator of production licence 857, has concluded the drilling of wildcat well 7132/2-2. The well was drilled about 175 kilometres north of Vardø, to the southeast in the Barents Sea.
The primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early to Late Triassic Age (the Snadd, Kobbe and Havert formation). The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum and reservoir potential in the lower Havert formation (Early Triassic Age).
In the primary exploration target, well 7132/2-2 encountered 25 metres of sandstone reservoir with moderate to good quality in the Snadd formation (Carnian Age), 17 metres of sandstone reservoir with poor to moderate quality in the Kobbe formation and 26 metres of sandstone reservoir with poor quality in the upper Havert formation. Sandstone reservoir was also encountered in the Klappmyss formation (Early Triassic Age) in a thickness of 17 metres with poor quality.
In the secondary exploration target in the lower Havert formation, the well encountered an interval of approx. 110 metres of sandstones with very poor reservoir quality. High measurements of formation gas led to an extension of the well. The objective of the extension was to evaluate potential presence of source rock and underlying reservoir rocks in the Lower Triassic and Upper Permian (the Ørret and Røye formation). No reservoir rocks were encountered in this interval. The well is dry.
Data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. This is the second exploration well in production licence 857. The licence was awarded in the 23rd licensing round in 2016.
Well 7132/2-2 was drilled to a vertical depth of 3496 metres below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Røye formation from the Late Permian Age. Water depth at the site is 304 metres. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Well 7132/2-2 was drilled by the West Hercules drilling facility which, after maintenance at Polarbase, will drill wildcat well 7335/3-1 in production licence 859 in the Barents Sea, where Equinor Energy AS is operator.