Statoil had strong believes in finding oil in the so called Iskrystall prospect of the Johan Castberg field.The field is situated approximately 240 north of the Norwegian coastline in the far north. The Norwegian oil company does not hide their disappointed to only find gas in this area.
Earlier this year the development of the Johan Castberg field was put on hold due to changes in the Norwegian tax policy. To change this decision Statoil have to find a larger oil well.
“Our main goal was to find oil in Iskrystall, but unfortunately it did not materialize. We still believe we can prove more oil resources in the Johan Castberg area and will continue our exploration effort with two more wells in the Skavl and Kramsnø prospects”, says Gro G. Haatvedt, senior vice president exploration Norway on the company web site.
Statoil is cooperating with ENI on the exploration drillings on Johan Castberg. The gas discovery in the Iskrystall prospect has an estimate size between 6 and 25 million barrels of oil equivalents.
Iskrystall is the second of the four prospects to be drilled in the Johan Castberg area. The first prospect Nunatak resulted in a small gas discovery. No they will continue with exploration drillings in the two other prospects.
