OMV Norge Exploration Well in North Sea Comes Up Dry

OMV Norge, a subsidiary of Austria’s OMV, has completed drilling its exploration well in the northern part of the North Sea without finding any hydrocarbons. The well, named 35/6-6, was targeting the Horatio prospect and was the first to be drilled in production license 1109.

The well, located 20 kilometers northwest of the Gjøa field, reached a vertical depth of 3840 meters below sea level in water depths of 353 meters. Unfortunately, the well was deemed dry and has been plugged and abandoned.

OMV Norge operated the license with a 30% interest, alongside partners DNO Norge (30%), Pandion Energy (20%), and Aker BP (20%). Following a recent partial stake swap, OKEA acquired DNO’s 10% interest in the license.

The primary target of the well was to prove petroleum in Lower Cretaceous reservoir rocks in the Agat Formation. While the well encountered the formation with a total thickness of 176 meters, the sandstone layers only showed poor to moderate reservoir quality.

The secondary target was to find petroleum in Lower Cretaceous reservoir rocks in the Åsgard Formation. The well detected around 137 meters in this formation, with 75 meters of sandstone layers exhibiting poor to moderate quality.

The drilling operations were carried out using the Transocean Norge semi-submersible rig, which secured a 17-well contract in Norway in September 2022 for drilling activities from 2023 to 2027.