The Victoria field project is located 22km north-west of the Heidrun field. The project is being developed under Production Licence 211 (PL 211), offshore Norway, about 300km from Trondheim.
Well 6506/6-1, is part of PL 211. The production licence also includes block 6506/6-1 and 6507/4-2 and is valid till February 2032. The Victoria well appraisal was completed in September 2009.
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Total Norge E&P is the operator of PL 211 and PL 211B, including the Victoria extension area. In 2009, the company is engaged in maximising exploration and delineation opportunities in Norway, primarily from the appraisal well in the Victoria gas discovery in the Norwegian Sea.
Eni Norge AS (30%), StatoilHydro ASA (30%) and Total (40%) are the partners in PL 211. Total Norge E&P acquired ExxonMobil Exploration and Production, Norway’s entire 30% interest in PL 211 in April 2006. The acquisition increased Total’s stake in the licence to 50%. In the same year a further 10% of interest in PL 211 was sold to Eni Norge.
West Phoenix, a semi-submersible rig, drilled the well to a depth of 5,664m below sea level. West Phoenix started its operations for Total Norge on the project in January 2009. The company plans to drill another appraisal well at Victoria.
Discovery
The discovery of Victoria was proven in 2000 in the lower to middle Jurassic reservoir rocks.
The Victoria high-temperature, high-pressure well was drilled by Mobil Exploration Norway in 2000 in the southern part of block 6506/6.
An appraisal of the undeveloped discovery began in January 2009 and was concluded in September 2009.
The operator announced that the appraisal of the well proved the existence of gas in September 2009.
Gas reserves
According to preliminary estimates, the Victoria discovery could contain 20-60 billion standard cubic metres of recoverable gas. Prior to the drilling, 89 billion standard cubic metres of recoverable gas was estimated and Victoria was considered to be Norway’s largest undeveloped gas discovery. This uncertainty was caused by the complexity of the discovery.
Field development
The objective of exploring the well was to test the potential for hydrocarbons at the Bella Donna prospect, which was drilled by Mobil in 2000 with the semi-submersible installation West Alpha. A pilot hole was spudded and drilled to 1,425m to identify the presence of gas. No shallow gas was found.
The well penetrated thick, porous and permeable sandstones in the Middle Jurassic Ile and Lower Jurassic Tilje formations. Recovered hydrocarbons indicated a dry gas containing 10% carbon dioxide.
The well was plugged and abandoned in 2000.
Production
Total E&P Norge started appraisal work in late 2008.
The PL 211 licence, including the Victoria discovery, is located in the Norwegian Sea, 200km offshore and in water depths of 400m.
The 6506/6-1 Victoria is the first exploration well in PL 211 B. Total E&P Norge applied for licences in 2006. The licence was given in February 2007 as additional acreage to PL 211. In January 2007, the company became the operator of Block 6506/9 and 6507/7 in the PL 211 Victoria extension area, with a 40% participating interest.
The appraisal well was drilled to a vertical depth of 5,664m below sea level. It was terminated in the Åre formation in Lower Jurassic rocks. The water depth at the site is 416m.
About 230m of core material was collected by the operator. Formation testing has been completed. The highest production rate recorded was 180,000 cm/d of flow through a 16/64-in nozzle. The gas constituents about 90% methane and 10% carbon dioxide.
Contracts
The drilling facilities for the Victoria Field are provided by Seadrill Offshore AS. The company contracted a sixth-generation ultra-deep semi-submersible drilling rig known as West Phoenix for the Victoria project. A three-year contract was given to Seadrill in 2006 for the West E-Drill, with the option for an additional two years.
Previously, in 2000, semi-submersible installation West Alpha drilled the 6506/6-1 well with seawater and bentonite down to 1,437m. It was drilled from 1,437m to 2,794m with water-based KCl/Glycol mud. Gas was discovered on 6 December 2000.
