Gas has been discovered by StatoilHydro in the Harepus prospect in the Norwegian Sea and the Corvus prospect in the Oseberg area of the North Sea.

Located in Middle Jurassic rocks, the Harepus discovery lies seven kilometers south of the Mikkel field. No formation testing has been done, but extensive data and cores have been collected.

"Preliminary calculations indicate 0.5 to one billion standard cubic meters of recoverable gas," said Sivert Jorgenvag, head of infrastructure-led exploration on the Halten Bank.

"A tie-back to Asgard together with the Gamma discovery made in the same license in 2008 will be considered."

The discovery well was drilled in 247 meters of water to a total depth of 3,162 meters beneath the sea surface and terminated in Early Jurassic rocks.

It will now be permanently plugged before Ocean Vanguard leaves the location to drill an exploration well for StatoilHydro on production license 159D in the Norwegian Sea.

Draupne The Corvus exploration well was drilled about 7.5 kilometers north-west of Oseberg C, and proved small quantities of gas in the Upper Jurassic Draupne formation.

"Reservoir thickness remains unclarified because the well, for technical reasons, could not be drilled deeper," explained Tom Dreyer, head of infrastructure-led exploration in the North Sea.

"This means that a possible appraisal well will be needed before the size of the discovery can be evaluated."

The well was drilled from Transocean Winner in 113 meters of water to a vertical depth of 3,991 meters and will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

After this work is completed, the rig is due to drill an appraisal well on the Peon gas discovery in production license 318.

Tags: StatoilHydro