OKEA ASA and its partners in production license 055 have made a discovery that is estimated to hold 300,000 to 2.8 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent along the eastern flank of the already producing Brage field on Norway’s side of the North Sea.
The discovery was made in the southern part of the Prince prospect in wildcat well 31/4-A-23 G. Well 31/4-A-23 F, in the northern part of the Prince prospect, turned up dry.
“The licensees will now assess the deposit as part of the further development of the Brage field”, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate said in an online statement. The stakeholders are OKEA with a 35.2 percent stake, Lime Petroleum AS with 33.84 percent, DNO Norge AS with 14.26 percent, Petrolia NOCO AS with 12.26 percent and M Vest Energy AS with 4.44 percent.
“The field has been in production for a long time, and work is under way to identify new methods to improve recovery”, the upstream regulator said. “New wells are being drilled, often combined with investigation of nearby prospects”.
Well A-23 F aimed to prove petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Sognefjord Formation, while A-23 G aimed to delineate a potential discovery in A-23 F and delineate the northern part of 31/4-A-13 E (Kim).
A-23 F, horizontally drilled, showed a sandstone layer in the Sognefjord Formation with a total measured thickness of 220 meters (721.78 feet) along the wellbore and 12 meters of vertical thickness with “good reservoir properties”, the Directorate reported.
It was drilled to a measured depth of 6285 meters and a vertical depth of 2153 meters below sea level in the Sognefjord Formation.
A-23 G was drilled horizontally at a vertical depth of 2,120-2,171 meters along the eastern flank of the Brage field. It encountered a sandstone layer three to four meters thick in the Sognefjord Formation. A-23 G was drilled to a total measured depth of 1,138 meters along the sandstone layer. It proved a 20-meter-thick oil column in sandstones with “moderate to good reservoir properties”, the Directorate said.
A-23 G was drilled to a total measured depth of 10,023 meters and a vertical depth of 2,171 meters below sea level. It was terminated in the Heather Formation.
“Pressure data indicate that the discovery is not in pressure communication with the discovery in 31/4-A-13 E (Kim)”, the Directorate said.
The wells have been permanently plugged. These are the 13th and 14th exploration wells drilled in production license 055, awarded April 1979 under the fourth licensing round for the Norwegian continental shelf.
Brage, located 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) east of the Oseberg field, was proven 1980 and put into production 1990, the Directorate said. Brage has an integrated production, drilling and accommodation facility.
In 2024 Brage produced 810,000 standard cubic meters of oil, 230,000 standard cubic meters of oil equivalent (scmoe) of natural gas and 80,000 scmoe of natural gas liquids, according to government website Norskpetroleum.no.
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