ConocoPhillips has made a large oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea close to a producing oilfield, the U.S. oil and gas company said on Tuesday.
Preliminary estimates point to the field containing between 75 million barrels and 200 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, ConocoPhillips said, adding that additional appraisal would determine the flow rates and the ultimate resource discovery, as well as a potential plan for development.
The new discovery on the Slagugle prospect is just 14 miles north-northeast of the Heidrun Field, which was discovered by Conoco in 1985 when it was the operator for the exploration and development phase. Heidrun has been producing oil and gas since 1995.
ConocoPhillips, the operator of the license containing the latest oil discovery on the Slagugle prospect, will now assess the find alongside other nearby prospects with a view toward future delineation of the discovery and potential tie-in to existing infrastructure in the area, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said.
“This discovery marks our fourth successful exploration well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the last 16 months,” Matt Fox, ConocoPhillips’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
“All four discoveries have been made in well-documented parts of the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea and offer very low cost of supply resource additions that can extend our more than 50-year legacy in Norway,” Fox added.
Last month, ConocoPhillips announced a new gas condensate discovery of between 50 and 190 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, located 22 miles northwest of the Heidrun field. Back then, Fox said that “This discovery, potentially the largest on the Norwegian Continental shelf this year, bolsters our position in the Norwegian Sea and the Heidrun area.”
Also offshore Norway, ConocoPhillips, as operator, started production earlier this month from the redeveloped Tor field, which was operational between 1978 and 2015. The Tor II project is one of several development opportunities in the Greater Ekofisk Area in the North Sea that enable continued efficient operations towards 2050. The project has a Brent Crude cost of supply below $30 a barrel, ConocoPhillips said.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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