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, Oil Price reported.
The barrel of oil equivalent is a unit of energy based on the approximate energy released by burning one barrel of crude oil.
Tests on the well produced gas at a rate of 2.3 million cubic meters per day.
The Norwegian government approved the development plan for the Martin Linge field in 2012. At the time, 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 cubic meters 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 suitable reservoir quality.
“Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. The well was formation-tested. The maximum production rate was 2.4 million standard cubic meters of gas per day,” the NPD said. 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.
