Norwegian oil and gas company DNO has made a gas condensate discovery in license PL984 in the Norwegian North Sea.
The discovery, which was made on the Norma prospect, is located 20km north-west of the Balder hub and 30km south of the Alvheim hub.
As per the preliminary evaluation, the discovery holds gross recoverable resources ranging between 25 and 130 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) on a P90-P10 basis, with a mean of 70mboe, in a Jurassic reservoir zone with high-quality sandstones.
In a press statement, DNO said: “Norma is situated in an area with extensive infrastructure in the central part of the North Sea, with tie-back options offering potential routes to commercialisation.”
DNO said it has also discovered additional exploration prospects within the same licence. These prospects have been considerably de-risked by the Norma results.
The Norma high-pressure, high-temperature exploration well has been drilled to a vertical depth of 4,800m using the Deepsea Yantai drilling rig.
Following the drilling, the well identified a 16m hydrocarbon column in a 20m gross reservoir section in Jurassic sandstones.
“This discovery is considered a play-opener for the deep turbiditic sands in this area given the exceptionally good reservoir quality encountered,” DNO said in a statement.
The company plans to further delineate the discovery and the licence’s upside potential.
Prior to undertaking further appraisal drilling, the company will complete improved seismic imaging and remapping to identify an optimal location for the next well.
DNO executive chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said: “Coming on the heels of our six Troll-Gjøa area discoveries since 2021, three of which were made this year, including Carmen, Heisenberg and Røver Sør, Norma opens up an exciting new play for DNO in the North Sea.
“At the risk of hoodooing our crack explorationists, the string of recent discoveries validates DNO’s offshore Norway exploration strategy.”
DNO, through its wholly-owned subsidiary DNO Norge, holds a 30% stake in PL984. Other licence partners include Aker BP (10%), Vår Energi (20%), Equinor Energy (20%) and Source Energy (20%).
Earlier this year, DNO made a gas and condensate discovery on the Carmen prospect in licence PL1148 in Norwegian Continental Shelf.
