OREANDA-NEWS. OMV (Norge) AS, operator of production license 537, is in the process of completing drilling of wildcat well 7324/7-2 Hanssen. The Hanssen discovery was made about 7 kilometers northwest of the 7324/8-1 Wisting Central oil discovery and about 315 kilometers north of Hammerfest.

"I am excited about the confirmation of the potential of the Wisting area. OMV's strategy in establishing Norway as a core country for the exploration and production business is advancing very well", says Jaap Huijskes, OMV Executive Board member responsible for Exploration and Production. The Hanssen well is the third well drilled in production license 537, which was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,679 meters below the sea surface and terminated in the Snadd Formation of Middle Triassic age. Water depth is 417.5 meters.

The main objective of the well was to prove hydrocarbons in Middle Jurassic to Late Triassic reservoir rocks (St©Є, Nordmela and Fruholmen Formations), with the secondary objectives in Late to Middle Triassic reservoir rocks (Snadd formation).

The well encountered a 20-25 meter gross oil column in the main target (St©Є Formation), which showed good reservoir properties. A successful formation test has been carried out in the St©Є Formation.

Preliminary calculations estimate the size of the Hanssen discovery in the St©Є Formation to be between 20 and 50 mn boe of recoverable resources, largely oil.

The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

OMV (Norge) AS as operator has a 25% share in the license; our joint venture partners are Petoro, Idemitsu, Tullow (each 20%) and Statoil (15%).