Vår Energi has confirmed the presence of oil in the Zagato North appraisal well, located around 10km north of the Goliat field in the Barents Sea. 

The appraisal well, 7122/8-4 S, was drilled by the COSL Prospector rig to a measured depth of 2,986m and a vertical depth of 2,793m. 

It encountered hydrocarbons in the Realgrunnen and Klappmyss formations, with estimated gross recoverable resources of up to three million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe). 

This appraisal well is part of the Goliat Ridge appraisal programme, which also includes ongoing drilling at the Goliat North well and a planned side-track and well test at the already drilled Zagato South well. 

Vår Energi plans to complete the full appraisal programme by the end of this year. 

Once drilling operations are completed, the company will review the potential of Goliat Ridge by combining data from the wells with newly acquired 3D seismic data. 

The wider Goliat Ridge area is estimated to contain gross discovered resources ranging from 36mboe to 103mboe. 

Additional prospective resources bring the total gross resource to nearly 200mboe. 

The licence partners, Vår Energi (operator, 65%) and Equinor (35%), are currently considering a tie-back of the Goliat Ridge discovery to the nearby Goliat floating production storage and offloading facility. 

The appraisal well was terminated in the Klappmyss Formation in the Lower Triassic, at a water depth of 406m at the drilling site. 

It has been permanently plugged and abandoned after data collection and sampling. 

According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, the discovery in production licence 229 was awarded in 1997. 

It is estimated at between 2.8 million standard cubic metres (mscm) and 10.1mscm of recoverable oil equivalent, corresponding to between 18 million barrels (mbbl) and 64mbbl.