Total Finds Gas In North Sea

Natural gas has been discovered in a part of the North Sea—an area that up until now, had slim chances of containing reserves.

Norway’s energy regulator, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), said the subsidiary of the French Major Total located the reserves while wildcat drilling in the northeast part of the Martin Linge field, and initial estimates show that there could be 388 million barrels of oil equivalent. Tests on the well produced gas at a rate of 84 million cubic feet per day. The Norwegian government approved the development plan for the Martin Linge field in 2012. In 2012, Total said that development of the Martin Linge would represent a $4.2 billion investment.

In its report, the regulator stated “Preliminary estimations of the size of the discovery are between 2 and 11 million standard cubic metres (70,629 and 388,461 cubic feet) of recoverable oil equivalents.”

The objective of Total’s operation in the Martin Linge had been to prove petroleum in the Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks, and it was during this work that Total found gas and condensate in the Tarbert, Ness, and Etive formations that had good reservoir quality.

According to the NPD “Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. The well was formation-tested. The maximum production rate was 2.4 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of gas/flow day through a 48/64-inch nozzle opening.”

The Directorate noted that the well “has added additional resources to the Martin Linge development and was completed with the objective of putting the well into production at start-up of the field.”

Norway is a major source of oil and gas for the European economy. The Norwegian government indicated that its estimates for production during the month of August were down compared to prior months, but added that it was better than anticipated with the closure of some fields.

By Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com

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