Marathon Oil Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Marathon Petroleum Norge A/S, has discovered oil with the company-operated Kneler 25/4-7 well. The discovery is in production license (PL) 203, 140 mi from Stavanger in 390 ft of water.
"This discovery is the first part of a three-well program designed to evaluate the West Heimdal area," said Philip Behrman, Marathon senior vice president of Worldwide Exploration.
The Kneler well was drilled into the Heimdal formation 7.5 mi west of the Heimdal platform to 7,425 ft TD below sea level. It encountered a 155-ft gross oil column. Extensive down-hole samples, core, and wireline logs were collected and are being analyzed. The next exploration well to be drilled is on the nearby Boa prospect in PL088BS, which will drill into the same formation.
The PL203 group includes Marathon as operator with a 65% working interest, ConocoPhillips with 20%, and DNO with 15%.
04/15/03