Vår Energi and its partner Kistos Energy have drilled a dry well in the Balder area in the North Sea.
Well 25/8-C-23 D ('Prince Updip') was drilled in production licence 027, from the Ringhorne installation, just over 200 kms west of Stavanger.
Production licence 027 was awarded in 1969, in the second licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). This is the 13th exploration well drilled within the licence area. The Balder and Ringhorne Øst fields are also located in the licence.
The production licence previously saw exploration activity in 2021, when exploration wells 25/8-20 S, B and C proved hydrocarbons at two levels.
Geological information
The well's objective was to prove petroleum in the 'Prince Updip' prospect in the Skagerrak Formation in the Upper Triassic. The secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in basement rock.
The well encountered the Skagerrak Formation with a thickness of about 127 metres, 18 metres of which were sandstone layers with moderate to good reservoir quality. Certain sandstone layers had hydrocarbon shows. The well drilled about 30 metres into basement rock; this interval had no reservoir properties.
The well is classified as dry with hydrocarbon shows.
Necessary data was collected while drilling the well.
Well 25/8-23 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 2318 metres below sea level, and was terminated in basement rock.
Water depth at the site is 129 metres, and the well has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.
Source: Norwegian Offshore Directorate
