Aker BP Discovers the Hassel Gas Field in the Barents Sea
Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP has completed drilling of exploration well 7324/8-4 (Hassel) and explored a gas reservoir in the Barents Sea, approximately 300 km from the northern coast of Norway.
This was reported by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD).
Hassel field
According to preliminary estimates, the volume of recoverable reserves of the field ranges from 0.51 to 0.7 cm3 of oil equivalent. This corresponds to 3.23-4.42 million boe. Licensees will have to evaluate this deposit along with other discoveries in the area for potential development.
Exploration well 7324/8-4
- the purpose of drilling exploration well 7324/8-4 is to identify the presence of oil in reservoir rocks from the Middle Jurassic to the Upper Triassic in the Stø and Fruholmen formations;
- the well was drilled to a depth of 7811 m below sea level and discovered a gas reservoir with a thickness of 11 m, of which 8 m was sandstone with very good reservoir quality;
- the water depth in the subsoil area is 401 m;
- a gas-water contact was discovered at a depth of 686 m below sea level;
- the well was not tested, but extensive data collection and sampling was carried out.
Drilling operations were carried out using a deep-water semi-submersible drilling rig (SSDR) Scarabeo-8 6th generation, equipped with 2 drilling rigs, a dynamic positioning system, and advanced mooring capabilities. It is capable of working in harsh conditions and can accommodate 140 people. The maximum drilling depth is about 10.6 thousand m.
7324/8-4 became the 2nd well that was drilled under production license PL 1170, issued following the results of the APA-2021 licensing round. The operator of the license is Aker BP with a 35% stake, another 35% owned by Equinor, 20% by Petoro and 10% by Inpex Idemitsu Norge.
Aker BP successfully drilled the first well on PL 1170 (7324/6-2) on June 20, 2024: according to preliminary estimates, the volume of recoverable reserves of the Ferdinand nord field ranges from 0.52 to 0.57 cm3 of oil equivalent, which corresponds to 3. 3-4.7 million boe.
Wells 7324/6-2 and 7324/8-4 are located in the Hoop oil fracture complex, the same area where the Wisting (7324/8-1) and Hanssen (7324/7-2) oil fields were discovered.
Previously, several other wells were drilled in the same area under other production licenses, which also led to discoveries:
- Gemini Nord (7325/4-1);
- Mercury (7324/9);
- Sputnik (7324/6-1);
- Intrepid Eagle (7324/3-1);
- Atlantis (7325/1-1).
In addition, several wells were drilled there, which are classified as dry.
On June 19, 2024, NOD reported that Equinor has completed drilling of exploration well 7220/2-2 on the Snøras structure in the Barents Sea. The well turned out to be unproductive.
The Barents Sea may contain about 60% of Norway’s undiscovered oil and natural gas reserves.
