Equinor Eyes Tie-back for New Crino/Mulder Discovery

Equinor is considering a tie-back development for its newest commercial discovery in the Troll/Fram area in the northern North Sea, the operator said on Aug. 18.

Volumes at the Crino/Mulder find in the Troll/Fram area are estimated at 9 MMboe to 35 MMboe of oil and gas, but mostly oil, Equinor said. The 35/11-26 S and 35/11-26 A wells in production license 090 (PL 090) in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea were drilled about 4 km west of Fram Field. PL 090 partner Neptune Energy said extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out in the well, which is in 356 m water depth. The wells were not formation tested.

The Deepsea Stavanger drilled the well, the ninth successful find out of 12 attempts since 2019. The eight previous discoveries in the area are Echino South, Swisher, Røver North, Blasto, Toppand, Kveikje, Røver South and Heisenberg.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the primary exploration target for wildcat well 35/11-26 S was to prove petroleum in sandstone in the Heather Formation from the Late Jurassic and the Brent Group from the Middle Jurassic, as well as to investigate reservoir properties in the Cook Formation from the Early Jurassic.

A 7-m gas column and a 26-m oil column were encountered in the Heather Formation and showed moderate to good reservoir quality. The secondary exploration target was to collect reservoir data in the Lista Formation from the Palaeocene, although that target was not encountered. Well 35/11-26 A encountered sandstones of moderate to good reservoir quality in the Heather Formation; the reservoir was aquiferous, yielding water.

Both wells were permanently plugged and abandoned.

Equinor operates PL 090 with 45% interest on behalf of partners Vår Energi with 25%, INPEX Idemitsu Norge with 15% and Neptune Energy Norge with 15%.

The Deepsea Stavanger will now drill wildcat well 30/11-15 in the Equinor-operated PL 035 in the North Sea.