Our Arctic Neighbors: StatoilHydro cautious on Barents find

Sarah Hurst

For Petroleum News

Norway’s StatoilHydro has confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in an exploration well in the Caurus prospect in the Barents Sea, 99 miles north-northwest of Hammerfest, the company said in a release Oct. 31. Hydrocarbons were confirmed in sandstone of middle and late Triassic age. The well was not formation tested, but comprehensive data gathering and sampling have been carried out. StatoilHydro estimates that the find contains 2 billion to 14 billion standard cubic meters (71 billion-494 billion standard cubic feet) of recoverable gas.

“It is of course promising that we once more have proven gas in the Barents Sea,” said Geir Richardsen, head of StatoilHydro’s exploration activities in the far north. “The middle Triassic find is made in rocks of poor quality, however, and we need time to make an evaluation and analyses to understand the volume and size of the find.” StatoilHydro’s public response to a gas find in the Barents Sea in July was almost identical to those comments.

Drilling by Polar Pioneer

The drilling in Caurus was carried out by the Polar Pioneer drilling rig at a water depth of 1,168 feet. Production license 228 was awarded in the Barents Sea project in 1997, when Saga Petroleum ASA was operator. Caurus is the second exploration well in the license. The first exploration well was drilled in January-February 2008 and confirmed hydrocarbons in the Obesum structure in the far northern part of the license. Another exploration well in the license has been scheduled, which will be a delineation of the Obesum discovery scheduled for startup in December.