Equinor and its partners have made material light oil discovery in the Egyptian Vulture prospect in the Norwegian Sea.
The discovery has been made at the Egyptian Vulture exploration well in PL939.
Following drilling using the West Hercules rig, the exploration well 6407/1-9 in PL939 encountered light oil in the primary target in the Lower Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Intra-Lange Formation with a 37m oil-filled gross interval.
Equinor operates the PL939 with a 55% stake. Other partners include PGNiG Upstream Norway (30%) and Longboat Energy (15%).
According to Longboat Energy, a high net-to-gross ratio and porosities of around 16% have been identified at the upper part of the Lange sand interval.
According to preliminary estimates, the Egyptian Vulture discovery holds recoverable resources of 19 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) to 63MMboe (gross) and oil-in-place volume of 220MMboe to 440MMboe (gross).
Since the estimates are based on conservative recovery factors, further appraisal works are required to be undertaken to ascertain the flow potential of the reservoir, as well as of future development wells.
Longboat expects a positive result that could significantly increase the discovery’s resource estimate.
The well is located 20km from the Åsgard field and 23km from the Kristin field. The close proximity to these two Equinor-operated fields offers development potential for the Egyptian Vulture prospect.
Drilled to a total vertical depth of 3,936m, the exploration well 6407/1-9 is now being planned to be plugged and abandoned.
Longboat CEO Helge Hammer said: “Egyptian Vulture is the second well in our seven well drilling programme and with the third well, the Aker BP operated Mugnetind exploration well in the Southern North Sea, also well underway. The fourth well in the programme, Ginny/Hermine, is also anticipated to spud before year-end.”
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Algeria is reportedly planning to stop the renewal of the natural gas supply agreement with Morocco, which would be effective from 1 November 2021, reported Reuters.
Algeria supplies natural gas to Spain via Morocco using the 13.5 billion cubic metre (bcm) Maghreb-Europe pipeline.
The latest move by Algeria comes following a strain in its diplomatic ties with Morocco in late August.
Algeria, however, plans to use the Medgaz undersea pipeline to continue the gas supply to Spain. This pipeline does not go through Morocco.
