OREANDA-NEWS. Operator Statoil has together with PL532 partners made an oil and gas discovery in the Drivis prospect in the Barents Sea. This concludes the 2013/2014 exploration programme around the Johan Castberg field.

Well 7220/7-3 S, drilled by the rig West Hercules, has proven a 68 metre gross gas column in the Stш formation and an 86 metre gross oil column in the Stш and Nordmela formations.

Statoil estimates the total volumes in Drivis to be in the range of 44-63 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent (o.e.), out of which 42-54 million barrels of oil.

In May 2013 Statoil launched a targeted exploration campaign around the Johan Castberg field in order to clarify additional oil potential in the area and make the development project more robust.

The exploration campaign comprised five wells and has lasted for 12 months. Drivis was the last well of this drilling campaign in the Johan Castberg area.

“Over the past year we have made a significant exploration effort in the Johan Castberg area. Five wells have been drilled back-to-back, giving us important subsurface information and a good understanding of the total resource base in the area”, says Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil senior vice president for exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf.

”We are certainly glad to have an oil discovery in Drivis. However, the exploration programme as a whole has not delivered on volume expectations. Out of the five wells drilled only two have resulted in oil discoveries,” says Rummelhoff.

The exploration results constitute an important input to the Johan Castberg field development project.

“We will now work closely with our licence partners to analyse the findings of the exploration programme and what those mean for the Johan Castberg development project,” says Erik Strand Tellefsen, Statoil vice president for field development northern Norway.

Statoil is operator for production licence PL532 with an ownership share of 50%. The licence partners are Eni Norge AS (30%) and Petoro AS (20%).