Vår Energi and Kistos Energy have completed drilling at the 25/8-C-23 D well, known as the Prince Updip prospect, in the Balder area of the North Sea.
The operation aimed to find hydrocarbons within the Skagerrak Formation in the Upper Triassic and targeted basement rock as a secondary objective.
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During drilling, the well encountered a 127m section of the Skagerrak Formation, including 18m of sandstone with moderate-to-good reservoir quality, with certain sandstone layers showing indications of hydrocarbons.
Drilling continued approximately 30m into basement rock, which exhibited no reservoir properties.
The well was drilled under production licence 027, awarded in 1969 during Norway’s second licensing round, from the Ringhorne installation located around 200km west of Stavanger.
This marks the 13th exploration well drilled within the licence area. The well reached a vertical depth of 2,318m below sea level and has now been permanently plugged and abandoned. The water depth at the site is reported at 129m.
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By GlobalDataThe Balder field, which lies within production licence 027, was discovered in 1967, with its development and operation plan approved in 1996; production commenced in 1999.
The Ringhorne Øst field, also situated in this licence, was discovered in 2003 and started production in 2006 following approval of its development plan in 2005.
Four production wells have been drilled on Ringhorne Øst from the Ringhorne wellhead platform.
Previous exploration activity in this licence occurred in 2021, when wells 25/8-20 S, B and C confirmed hydrocarbons at two levels.
In December 2025, Vår Energi and its licence partners announced they had sanctioned the Previously Produced Fields (PPF) project in the Greater Ekofisk Area of Norway’s North Sea.
The partners reached a final investment decision on the PPF redevelopment initiative, operated by ConocoPhillips Skandinavia.
