Project Profile
Value: US$431 million
Location: Barents Sea, Blocks 7225/3 and 7226/1
Water Depth: 1,214 ft (370m)
The Norvarg well, 7225/3-1, has encountered gas at three different levels, a significant part of it in the Kobbe formation. The well is to be drilled to a depth of 4,100 metres. The licence PL535 is located in water depths of 1,214ft (370m) and is found around 275km from the Snøhvit LNG plant at Melkøya, near Hammerfest on the North Norwegian coast.
In 2013 the development of the Norvarg gas field in Arctic Norway was deemed not commercially viable, another signal that oil firms are reining in their optimism about the Arctic. Norvarg was one of the two discoveries together with Statoil\'s Johan Castberg in 2011 to revive interest in the Norwegian side of the Barents Sea. They helped rejuvenate the prospects of Norway as an oil and gas producer. A well drilled recently at the Norvarg field flowed at a rate of just under 200,000 cubic metres a day. The resource estimates for the field were also lower following the drilling of a second well in July 2013. Originally the field was expected to contain between 10 to 50 billion cubic metres of gas.
Operators:
Total E&P Norge AS: Operator with 40% interest
Rocksource ASA: 7% interest
Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA: 20% interest
North Energy: 20% interest
Valiant Petroleum Norge AS: 13% interest (bought from Rocksource March 2012)
Contractors:
North Atlantic Drilling Ltd: Drilling rig
Ocean Rig: Drilling using semi-submersible Leiv Eiriksson