Eni finds oil at Goliat wildcat in Barents Sea

Italian oil company Eni SpA struck a column of oil with a wildcat exploration well drilled at its Goliat discovery in the Barents Sea in the Norwegian Arctic, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announced Jan. 9.

The Norwegian branch of Italy’s largest oil company discovered the Goliat field with a well drilled last year about 50 miles off Norway’s northernmost town of Hammerfest.

A petroleum directorate news release said the latest well, drilled by the Polar Pioneer offshore rig to a total depth of 6,400 feet, was not production tested. However, it said extensive logging and core samples from the well will help determine the size of the Goliat find.

Eni, which owns a 65 percent share of the field, is already evaluating ways of developing what would be a pioneering oil field in the Barents Sea that Norway shares with Russia. The state-controlled Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA has a 20 percent share, and the small Norwegian oil company DNO has 15 percent.

Goliat is about 30 miles southeast of Statoil’s Snoehvit natural gas field, which is slated to become the first petroleum field to start up in the Barents Sea at the end of this year.

—The Associated Press