Vår Energi, jointly owned by Eni (69.85 per cent) and HitecVision (30.15 per cent), has announced a new significant oil discovery in production licence 090/090I in the northern North Sea by drilling the exploration well 31/2-22 S in the Blasto Main prospect. Vår Energi AS holds a 25 per cent stake in the licence, with Equinor ASA (Operator) holding 45 per cent, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS (15 per cent) and Neptune Energy Norge AS (15 per cent).
The exploration well is located 7.5 kilometres southwest of the nearest Fram Field template and 12 kilometres north of the Troll C Platform in a water depth of 349 metres.
The well on Blasto Main prospect was drilled to a vertical depth of 2282 metres below sea level and reached TD in the Jurassic Fensfjord Formation.
It proved light oil in two separate intervals of the Jurassic Sognefjord formation sandstones having excellent reservoir properties, with a 30-metre oil column in the Upper Sognefjord and 50-metre oil column in Lower Sognefjord for a combined total oil column of 80 metres.
The well was not formation tested, but extensive data collection and sampling has been performed. Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 150 and 240 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe) oil in place.
After the recently announced Isflak discovery in the Barents Sea, the Blasto Main discovery confirms Vår Energi’s successful infrastructure-led exploration strategy also in the North Sea proving additional high-value reserves in the Fram area.
The Blasto new discovery is planned to be co-developed with the nearby Echino South discovery (also located in PL090) and both will be tied into the nearby infrastructures. Additional exploration activity is planned in the area during 2021.
Vår Energi has ownership in more than 140 licences and oil and gas production from 35 fields. Vår operates over the whole Norwegian continental shelf; the Goliat field in the Barents Sea, the Marulk field in the Norwegian Sea and the Balder and Ringhorne fields in the North Sea. Vår Energi’s current production stands at approximately 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
