The wildcat well 6507/7-16 S is located in production license 888 where DNO is the operator. DNO received a drilling permit for the well last October.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Friday that the well had been drilled about 4 kilometers west of the Heidrun field in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea and 240 kilometers west of Brønnøysund.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early and Middle Jurassic Age (the Garn, Ile and Tilje Formations).

The well 6507/7-16 S encountered a total gas column of 52 meters in the Garn, Not and Ile Formations, of which 48 meters of sandstone with good to very good reservoir quality. Under the gas column, there is a four-meter thick oil column in the Ile Formation. Net water-bearing reservoir rocks of about 75 meters were encountered deeper down in the Ile, Ror and Tilje Formations, mainly with moderate to good reservoir quality.

Preliminary calculations place the size of the discovery between 1 and 2 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents. The licensees will assess the well results with regard to further follow-up of the resource potential in the production license.

The well was not formation tested, but extensive volumes of data have been collected and samples have been taken. This is the first exploration well in production license 888, which was awarded in APA 2016.

The well was drilled to a measured depth of 3238 meters and a vertical depth of 3184 meters below sea level, and it was terminated in the Tilje Formation from the Early Jurassic Age.

Water depth at the site is 341 meters. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well 6507/7-16 S was drilled by the Island Innovator drilling rig, which is now scheduled to spend some time at the shipyard.

It is also worth mentioning that, earlier this week, the Island Innovator was awarded a contract by OMV for operations offshore Norway.