Statoil Third Time Lucky in Aasta Hansteen

Statoil and PL602 partners have made a gas discovery in the Gymir prospect. With three discoveries in a row, an important progress has been made in unlocking full potential of the Aasta Hansteen area.

“Our 2015 exploration campaign around Aasta Hansteen has proven an upside potential in the area. The estimated total volumes in the three discoveries, Snefrid Nord, Roald Rygg and Gymir, amount to 75-120 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, corresponding to about 1/3 of the Aasta Hansteen recoverable volumes. The discoveries will now be further evaluated for future tie-in to the Aasta Hansteen facilities in order to optimise utilisation of the infrastructure and prolong the production plateau,” says Dan Tuppen, vice president exploration Norwegian and Barents Sea in Statoil (STO).

The well 6706/11-2, drilled by the Transocean (RIG) Spitsbergen rig in the Gymir prospect, proved a gross 70-metre gas column in the Nise Formation with good reservoir qualities. Statoil estimates the volumes in Gymir to be in the range of 6-19 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.  Gymir is located just 8 kilometres away from Roald Rygg and 14 kilometres away from Snefrid Nord.

Aasta Hansteen will be the largest SPAR platform in the world and is the biggest ongoing field development project in the Norwegian Sea. It is one of the main projects in Statoil’s portfolio. The plan for development and operations (PDO) was approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in 2013. Production start-up is expected in 2017.

 “Additional reserves from the three discoveries tied in to Aasta Hansteen will be important for increasing the value of the Aasta Hansteen investment,” says Torolf Christensen, Statoil vice president for the Aasta Hansteen project.

The drilling operations in all three wells have been extremely efficient, making them the fastest deep-water wells ever drilled on the Norwegian continental shelf.  The Gymir well has been completed in just 13 days, which is a unique drilling performance for a deep water well.

“The total savings achieved in the three wells amount to 50 days or 360 MNOK compared to the initial plan. This is a result of STEP (Statoil technical efficiency programme) within drilling and well, and the ability of the onshore planning team and the Transocean Spitsbergen crew to take out the full potential of the drilling process. The efficiency gains were achieved while keeping high HSE standards,” says Thor Emil Bensvik, head of Statoil exploration drilling operations on the NCS.