Wintershall Dea discovers oil near Maria field offshore Norway

Oil and natural gas firm Wintershall Dea has discovered oil in the Bergknapp prospect, 8km west of the Maria field in the Norwegian Sea.

The company estimates it has found recoverable reserves of 26 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) to 97MMboe.

Wintershall Dea noted that the reservoir qualities range from poor to good.

Drilled by the Scarabeo 8 drilling rig, the well encountered an oil column of at least 60m in the Garn Formation and a 120m oil column in the Tilje Formation.

It was drilled at a water depth of 312m in production license PL 836S, 200km north of Kristiansund.

With its partners, Wintershall Dea will investigate potential appraisal measures as well as development options for the Bergknapp discovery, while taking into account the current market condition.

Wintershall Dea operates the prospect and owns 40% of it. Other partners in the license include Spirit Energy Norway (30%) and DNO Norge (30%).

Chief technology officer Hugo Dijkgraaf said: “This exciting discovery near existing infrastructure confirms the untapped potential of Norway as a core area for exploration, development and production now and in the future.

“As a global company, Wintershall Dea is committed to Norway and to developing new fields like the Bergknapp discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.”

Last August, Wintershall Dea started drilling four production wells on the Dvalin gas field in the Norwegian Sea to achieve first production next year.