Our Arctic Neighbors: StatoilHydro makes Barents gas discovery

Norway’s StatoilHydro has found gas in the Ververis prospect in the Barents Sea, the company said July 4. The drilling in 1,138 feet of water was undertaken by the Polar Pioneer drilling rig. The well confirmed the existence of gas in mid-Jurassic sandstones. No gas-water contact was established and no formation leak-off test has been conducted, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have taken place, the company said.

“It is of course promising that we have discovered gas, but the drilling was performed in a relatively complex formation,” said Bente Fotland from Statoil Hydro’s Harstad office. “We therefore need to perform more analyses and evaluations in order to determine the resource potential of the discovery,” he added.

Ververis is the first well in production license 395, which was awarded in the 19th licensing round in 2006. The licensees in production license 395 are StatoilHydro (operator, 50 percent), BG Norge AS (30 percent) and Petoro AS (20 percent).

—Sarah Hurst