OMV and partners discover oil at Hanssen wildcat well offshore Norway

OMV (Norge) and its partners have discovered oil at the Hanssen wildcat well offshore Norway.

The Hanssen well, located in production licence 537, has encountered a 20m-25m oil bearing sandstone with good reservoir properties in the main target.

The Hanssen discovery, which was made around 7km north-west of the 7324/8-1 Wisting Central oil discovery was tested and showed a maximum production rate of 2,006bpd of oil and 325,000ft³pd of gas.

The well also identified hydrocarbon bearing sandstones in the Late Triassic and in the Middle Triassic but in poor reservoirs.

Awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009, the Hanssen is the third well drilled in production license 537.

As operator, OMV has a 25% share in the license and Tullow Oil, Idemitsu and Petro each have a 20% interest, while Statoil holds the remaining 15% stake.

Tullow Oil expects production rates from future development wells to be significantly higher and the company said that preliminary estimates of approximately 50 million barrels of recoverable oil confirmed the potential of the Wisting cluster, following an initial discovery in September 2013.

Tullow Oil exploration director Angus McCoss said: "The Hanssen discovery gives us significant insight into the potential of the Wisting cluster and further confidence that we are on track towards proving up a major new commercial oil resource.

"We and our partners are preparing to drill the Hassel and Bjaaland wells in the eastern part of the Wisting cluster next year."

Source: offshore-technology.com

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