Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – The semisub Borgland Dolphin has spudded an appraisal well for Wintershall on the Maria discovery in the Norwegian Sea.

Maria contains an estimated 60-120 MMbbl of recoverable oil and between 2-5 bcm (71-177 bcf) of recoverable gas. The location of the latest well, 6407/1-5S in production license 475BS, is 200 km (124 mi) off the coast of Trondheim.

“We have high expectations of this well,” said Wintershall Project Manager Hugo Dijkgraaf. “Our main objective is to prove oil in the northern part of the structure and to perform extensive data acquisition.

“The results will help the Maria partnership to decide on the optimum development concept for Maria - either a subsea tieback or a standalone development.”

2/1/2012