16/1-15

General

Well 16/1-15 was drilled on the western side of the Utsira High in the North Sea. The objective was to test Jurassic/Triassic sandstones prognosed at 1925 in the Tellus prospect north of the Luno Discovery. The Luno Discovery has later been officially named the Edvard Grieg Field. The Tellus prospect was separated from Luno by a fault zone trending NW SE.

Operations and results

Wildcat well 16/1-15 was spudded with the semi-submersible installation Bredford Dolphin on 22 January 2011 and drilled to TD at 2150 m, 230 m into pre-Devonian basement rock. Due to possible shallow gas sands a precautionary 9 7/8" pilot hole was drilled down to 585 m. Only water filled sands were seen. Several incidents interrupted the progress where the most serious was a failed 20" casing cement job. The other incidents were related to the BOP and a stuck wire line string. The well was drilled with seawater and sweeps down to 585 m, and with Performadril mud from 585 m to TD.

The well proved an oil column of 48 metres in a thin, Intra Åsgard Formation Sandstone directly overlying weathered and porous / fractured basement. Top of fractured basement was at 1920 m. No Triassic or Jurassic sediments were identified in the well. The Intra Åsgard Formation Sandstone is a chalk arenite, 2.7m thick, with excellent reservoir properties. An oil/water contact was established at approximately 1965 m (1940 m TVD MSL). The acquired pressure, geochemistry and PVT data supports communication between the Luno and Tellus Discoveries, making the Tellus area a northern extension of the Luno Discovery.

Intermittent oil shows were described on core 1 immediately above the reservoir in a thin Hod Formation lim