Oil exploration in the North Sea has revealed traces of oil at Mandal High off the Norwegian coast. However, these traces are not sufficient for the oil company MOL Norge to perpetuate the drilling started on February 10, 2021. The well has been classified as dry and will be closed shortly and abandoned.
Read on energynews.com: Oil market: between Covid-19, OPEC+ and RE in 2021
Oil exploration off Norway
Oil exploration off the Norwegian coast has been relaunched since December 2020. The Norwegian oil and gas company MOL Norge received this month a drilling permit for the 2/9-6 S wildcat well.
Drilling began on February 10 at Mandal High near the Norwegian-Danish border. These were petroleum surveys with the objective of proving the presence of petroleum in the Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks.
A dry well
MOL has therefore drilled the well to 4250 and 4274 meters below sea level. Knowing that the water depth on the site is 70 meters. The drilling encountered a layer approximately 250 meters thick of sandstone and clay elements. Approximately 140 meters of this layer was reservoir rock with low to medium reservoir properties.
Finally, traces of oil were recorded in the upper part of the reservoir. Nevertheless, following this oil exploration, the well was classified as dry. It will now be clogged and permanently abandoned.