Languages

No oil in Statoil's latest Arctic well

Additional discoveries around the Johan Castberg field will enhance chances of project development.

The Norwegian energy major did not find much-desired oil at its Kramsnø field in the Barents Sea.

Location

Expectations were high ahead of the drilling at Kramsnø, a field located only few kilometers from the Johan Castberg oil discoveries. Results from the drilling now show that the field holds only modest volumes of gas. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate informs.

Statoil is license operating company and expresses disappointment with results. “We are approaching the end of the current drilling program around the Johan Castberg field. Unfortunately, out of the four wells drilled to date only one has resulted in an oil discovery”, Senior Vice President Irene Rummelhoff says in a press release

“The exploration campaign is serving its purpose of maximising our knowledge of the area, but has not provided the additional resources we hoped for”, Erik Strand Tellefsen, vice president field development northern Norway, adds.

Additional discoveries in the area is crucial for Statoil which is in the process of considering how to develop the Johan Castberg field. As previously reported, the company last year announced that it was postponing its decision on development concepts for the project.

The Kramsnø field is located 247 km northwest of Hammerfest.  Water depth in the area is about 400 meter and the well drilled was 3209 meter deep. The operation was conducted by the West Hercules rig.