HOUSTON, June 27 -- Norway's Statoil said Wednesday it made a small North Sea oil discovery in record time.
The Stine Segment II discovery is in 60 m of water 7 km east of Siri field, which Statoil operates on the Danish continental shelf.
The Noble George Sauvageau rig drilled the well in less than 10 days, including coring and logging. The well was drilled almost vertically to 2,091 m below sea level, where oil was found in the Palaeocene sand.
Statoil's Geir Tungesvik, who was in charge of the drilling operation, said the wildcat sought to find more oil for the Siri platform production facilities.
"The platform has a production capacity of 50,000 b/d but currently produces about 30,000 b/d. This find will contribute to fill up production capacity for the rest of Siri's production period," Tungesvik said.
The rig was been moved to the Siri platform where it will drill a 7,200-m horizontal production well to the discovery. Output is due to begin in September.
