35/2-3

General

Well 35/2-3 was drilled on the Odden prospect in the Sogn Graben ca 10 km south-east of the Peon discovery and 76 km from the Norwegian shore. The objective was to test the Palaeocene sandstones in the Balder and Sele Formations. Planned TD was to drill 50 m into the Shetland Group or 1700 m TVD.

Operations and results

All operations on the wells were performed from the semi-submersible installation Scarabeo 8. A pilot hole 35/2-U-5 was drilled with sea water with hi-vis sweeps to 865 m due to a class 1 shallow gas warning. The well was displaced to 1.30 SG mud then a 15 minutes flow check was performed before the well was cemented back. The rig was moved to the planned main well location and the well was spudded. After drilling the 17 1/2" hole to 865 m, a water flow was observed at the well head. Due to this, the hole was cemented back and the well was abandoned. The well was renamed 35/2-U-6. The rig was moved to the alternative well location and the actual exploration well 35/2-3 was spudded on 13 June 2012. A contingency casing design was applied, installing a 20" surface casing above the suspected sandstone. The next section was drilled with weighted mud. The water flow in well 35/2-U-6 is interpreted as coming from sand layers at approximately 750 m. Well 35/2-3 was drilled without further major incident to TD at 1640 m, 50 m into the late Cretaceous Shetland Group. The main well was drilled with seawater and hi-vis pills down to 562 m and with Glydril mud from 562 m to TD.

The Balder Formation came in at 1323 m and the Sele Formation at 1396 m. Both had sandstones, but no indications of hydrocarbons were seen in these formations or in any other formation penetrated by the well.

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