Equinor Drills Dry Wildcat Well in Norwegian Sea

Transocean Encourage drilling rig (Credit: Transocean)

Equinor and its partners have drilled a dry well in the prospect under the Heidrun field in the Norwegian Sea.

The wildcat well 6507/8-D-4 CH was drilled in production license 124, 240 kilometers west of Sandnessjøen in the ‘Heidrun Cellar SE’ prospect.

The well was drilled by Transocean’s Transocean Encourage semi-submersible drilling rig, as the tenth wildcat well in the production license, which was awarded in 1986 (licensing round 10-B).

The licensees in the production license are Equinor which acts as the operator, with ConocoPhillips, Petoro and Vår Energi as partners.

The well's objective was to prove petroleum in deeper stratigraphic levels on the Heidrun field, in reservoir rocks from the Early Jurassic (Åre Formation) and Late Triassic ("Grey Beds").

The well encountered sandstone layers in the Åre Formation/Grey Beds with an overall thickness of about 161 meters and good to very good reservoir quality.

The well was not formation-tested, but data was acquired.

Water depth at the site is 357 meters, and the well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.