Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Statoil has doubled its estimate of recoverable volumes in the Aldous Major discovery in the Norwegian North Sea to between 900 MMboe and 1.5 Bboe.

This follows the results of appraisal well 16/2-10, drilled by the semisub Transocean Leader in license PL265. The previous estimate was 400-800 MMboe.

According to Statoil, the well confirmed a continuous, very good and thick reservoir, with an oil column of roughly 60 m (197 ft). And reservoir quality was similar to that encountered in the 16/2-8 discovery well, 4.2 km (2.7 mi) to the south.

Aldous is in communication with Lundin Petroleum’s nearby Avaldsnes discovery in PL501. The combined structure extends more than 180 sq km (70 sq mi), with considerable variation in both reservoir thickness and oil column height. This will need investigating via further appraisal wells in both licenses.

Lundin recently estimated gross recoverable contingent resources for the Avaldsnes at between 800 and 1,800 MMboe. The combined Avaldsnes/Aldous Major South discovery is therefore now estimated to hold 1.7-3.3 Bboe, confirming it as one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf.

10/24/2011