OMV finds more oil in Barents Sea

Atle Staalesen, The Independent Barents Observer
Posted: Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 15:13
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Transocean Spitsbergen deep water drilling rig in the Barents Sea. Photo courtesy of OMV — Transocean Spitsbergen deep water drilling rig in the Barents Sea. Photo: OMV

This is an important milestone towards a future development of the area, the Austrian company says about its Wisting Central II well.

The results of the drilling indicate that there is more oil in the area than we previously believed, representatives of the company told Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper.

OMV now estimates that the Wisting oil resources exceed those of Johan Castberg, the nearby field controlled by Statoil.

The company recently completed a horizontal well at the Barents Sea structure located about 310 km north of Hammerfest, Arctic Norway. Wisting Central II is the fifth well in the production license PL537, which was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009. It is the northernmost ever discovery in Norway.

“OMV is very satisfied with the well test results, which are promising. This well is an important milestone towards a future field development on Wisting” Johann Pleininger, OMV Executive Board member responsible for Upstream, saif in a press release.

The Wisting Central II well is the first horizontal appraisal well in the Barents Sea and sets a new drilling record; it is the shallowest horizontal offshore well drilled from a floating drilling facility, the company informs.

The well was drilled by semisubmersable rig Transocean Spitsbergen

The Austrian company owns a 25 percent share in the Wisting (PL537) license. Joint venture partners are Petoro (20%), Idemitsu (20%), Tullow (20%) and Statoil (15%).