Rolvsnes Oil Field, North Sea

Rolvsnes field was discovered with the drilling of the 16/1-12 exploration well by the Songa Dee drilling rig. Image courtesy of Songa Offshore.

Rolvsnes offshore field lies in the PL338C production license. Image courtesy of Rex International Holding Limited.

Rolvsnes was appraised by drilling the 16/1-25 S appraisal well by Bredford Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig. Image courtesy of Lime Petroleum.

The Rolvsnes field lies in production licence PL338C of the Norwegian North Sea in water depths of 100m, and is located approximately 6km away from the Edvard Grieg field.

PL338C is jointly owned by Lundin Norway (50%), Lime Petroleum Norway (30%) and OMV Norge (20%), with Lundin also acting as the operator.

The developers are currently carrying out feasibility studies on the field, with the aim of achieving test production by 2019.

Rolvsnes field location and discovery

The PL338C license is spread over an area of 121.63km² in the central part of the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Rolvsnes field was discovered in July 2009 by the 16 / 1-12 exploration well, which was drilled by the Songa Dee drilling rig to a depth of 2,055m.

The well encountered a 42m-thick column of under-saturated black oil in a faulted granitic basement of the early Cretaceous age. The presence of oil was confirmed through oil sampling and three mini pressure / drill stem tests (DSTs).

Rolvsnes field geology and reserves

The Rolvsnes reservoir is a fractured and weathered granite basement structure, and comprises part of the southern flank of Utsira High area of the Norwegian North Sea.

The gross contingent resources of the field are estimated to be between three and 16 million metric barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), while the discovery’s potential upside reserves are estimated to be between ten and 46mmboe.

Rolvsnes field appraisal

Rolvsnes field has been appraised with the drilling of 16 / 1-25 S appraisal well, located roughly 2.7km south of the discovery well.

The well was drilled to a depth of 2,096m by the Bredford Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig in order to explore the extent of the discovery.

A 30m column of under-saturated oil was encountered by the well in porous granitic basement, with a gas-to-oil ratio of approximately 180 standard cubic metres (Sm³).

Extensive data was collected along with five mini DSTs, along with a production test that acheived a flow rate of 265 barrels of oil a day.

Drilling of the well determined the key risks associated with the discovery, including irregular porosity and permeability distributions in the reservoir.

The well was drilled using Rex International Holding’s Virtual Drilling (RVD) technology. Rex International currently owns 87.84% in field partner Lime Petroleum.

RVD technology assisted in accurately predicting dry wells, thereby reducing exploration costs.

Field development plan for Rolvsnes

The developers plan to carry out further studies to explore the development of the field, with the drilling of an extended reach well from the Edvard Grieg platform currently in the planning stages.

A phased appraisal and development of Rolvsnes is being scheduled and development feasibility studies are presently ongoing.

Production is planned to be achieved through four production wells and one water injection well, which will be tied back to existing infrastructure located near the field.

Each well will be production tested for an extended period before drilling of the next well is commenced.