Project Profile
Location: 13 miles northeast of Lundin’s Gohta oil discovery, PL609, Barents Sea, Norway
Reserves: 125 million to 400 million barrels of oil and natural gas, of which 85 million to 310 million barrels crude
Start-up Year:
Lundin Petroleum AB has recently drilled another well in PL609 in Barents Sea. The Alta find, located 13 miles northeast of Lundin’s Gohta oil discovery, contains the equivalent of 125 million to 400 million barrels of oil and natural gas, of which 85 million to 310 million barrels is crude. The discovery could probably increase the commercial potential and impact the overall development of the Barents Sea positively. Alta could revive the industry’s optimism about the Barents Sea, which has been checked after Norway’s state-controlled Statoil ASA earlier this year again delayed its Johan Castberg development following a disappointing exploration campaign that was meant to boost oil volumes and make the project more profitable. Lundin has also successfully drilled a section of the exploration well 7220/6-2 on the Neiden prospect in PL609. Drilling operations on exploration well 7220/6-2 used the Island Innovator drilling rig in the Barents Sea South.
While the little-explored Barents Sea is seen as key to helping Norway replace falling crude output from aging fields in the North Sea, no oil field in the area has yet been brought to production. Eni SpA’s Goliat field, discovered in 2000, has been delayed several times and is headed for a 50 percent cost overrun when it starts producing in the middle of 2015. The only producing field in the Barents Sea is Statoil’s Snohvit gas deposit. Alta could be the largest oil discovery in the Norwegian Barents Sea since Statoil ASA’s Skrugard and Havis twin discoveries in 2011 and 2012, which hold 200 million barrels to 300 million barrels of crude each and together make up the Castberg project. Alta could even eclipse those finds should the resources prove to match the upper end of the estimate range. Lundin is the operator of license 609 with a 40% interest. Its partners are RWE Dea AG and Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd., with 30% each.
Operators:
Lundin Petroleum AB: Operator with 40% interest
RWE Dea AG: 30% interest
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd.: 30% interest
Contractors:
Odfjell Drilling: Drilling contract to drill an exploration well 7220/11-3. Drilling is scheduled to begin in June 2015 and estimated to last 56 days. Water depth at the site is 397 metres. The well is to be drilled by the Island Innovator semi-submersible drilling rig of the GM4000-WI type, built in 2012 at Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard in China. The rig is registered in Norway and classified by DNV GL. Island Innovator was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in August 2013.
Aker Solutions: Three year FEED contract. (April, 2016)
Ocean Rig: Owns and operates the Leiv Eiriksson semi-submersible drilling rig. (September, 2016)