Our Arctic Neighbors: StatoilHydro completes Barents exploration well

Norway’s StatoilHydro has completed the drilling of an exploration well on the Nucula oil and gas discovery in the Barents Sea, the company said in a release Dec. 5. The well confirmed a small oil column in sandstone of the Triassic age. The oil-bearing layers were thin, but showed good production properties.

It is too early to reach a conclusion on the size of Nucula, StatoilHydro said, but preliminary calculations would suggest that the resource lies in the lower region of the original estimate, which was 6-12 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent (37.7-75.5 million barrels of oil). The exploration well was not formation tested, but data has been gathered to evaluate the size and extent of the find.

“We will now evaluate the size of the find and further development opportunities for Nucula,” said Geir Richardsen, StatoilHydro’s head of exploration activities in the far north.

—Sarah Hurst