Italy's Eni finds oil and gas in Arctic field
Reuters Business Channel Reuters.com
OSLO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Italian energy group's Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) has discovered oil and gas at its Goliat prospect in the Norwegian sector of the Arctic Barents Sea, energy officials and the company said on Thursday.
"Hydrocarbons were found in three different levels of sandstone...," the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said in a statement, which confirmed earlier reports in Norwegian media that Eni had made a discovery.
"Oil and gas were found in the main reservoir," NPD said.
Sverre Bore, chairman of Eni's Norwegian subisidiary, declined to say anything about the possible volumes as logging of the well results was still in progress, but he said that the likelihood of developing the field had risen.
"Of course, the likelihood has improved quite a lot after this well," Bore told Reuters.
"It will take some weeks or month before we can say anything more about the significance of the find," he added.
Eni is likely to drill another appraisal well after Sept. 1 this year, he said.
Now the Italian company has also found gas in a prospect earlier believed to contain only oil after wells drilled in 2000 and 2001.
GAS A NEW POSSIBILITY
The discovery 85 kilometres (53 miles) northwest of the town of Hammerfest and 50 km southeast of Statoil's Snoehvit gas field followed two dry Barents wells drilled in 2005 by Statoil and Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) after the government reopened the area.
Bore said: "From the very beginning, when exploration began in the Barents Sea in 1980, everyone was looking for oil because that was what could be developed because of the distance to the market...that has changed with the Snoehvit development."
Statoil's Snoehvit, due on stream in 2007, is the first petroleum development in the Barents Sea. That field is being developed for liquefied natural gas (LNG) primarily for the lucrative U.S. market.
Bore said it could be possible to use the Snoehvit processing facilities at Melkoya island near Hammerfest for gas volumes from a Goliat development.
Oil and gas companies operating off Norway have increasingly looked northward for new resources as production from existing oilfields further south, in the North Sea, is beginning to taper off though Norwegian gas production is still growing steeply.
"The discovery in the deeper formations is considered very positive as it shows petroleum potential which has not earlier been confirmed in this part of the Hammerfest basin," the NPD said.
Eni made the discovery with Ocean Rig's (OCR.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) Eirik Raude drilling rig in licence 229. Eni owns 65 percent of the licence. Its partners are Norway's Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) with 20 percent and Norwegian DNO (DNO.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) with 15 percent.
The discovery was made in 343 metres of water and the well was drilled to a total depth of 2,701 metres below the sea surface, the NPD said.
Eni shares traded up 0.1 percent at 23.88 euros at 0920 GMT on the Milan stock exchange.
Statoil's stock was up 0.3 percent at 160.50 Norwegian crowns in Oslo, and DNO was up 0.4 percent at 60.50 crowns.
OSLO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Italian energy group's Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) has discovered oil and gas at its Goliat prospect in the Norwegian sector of the Arctic Barents Sea, energy officials and the company said on Thursday.
"Hydrocarbons were found in three different levels of sandstone...," the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said in a statement, which confirmed earlier reports in Norwegian media that Eni had made a discovery.
"Oil and gas were found in the main reservoir," NPD said.
Sverre Bore, chairman of Eni's Norwegian subisidiary, declined to say anything about the possible volumes as logging of the well results was still in progress, but he said that the likelihood of developing the field had risen.
"Of course, the likelihood has improved quite a lot after this well," Bore told Reuters.
"It will take some weeks or month before we can say anything more about the significance of the find," he added.
Eni is likely to drill another appraisal well after Sept. 1 this year, he said.
Now the Italian company has also found gas in a prospect earlier believed to contain only oil after wells drilled in 2000 and 2001.
GAS A NEW POSSIBILITY
The discovery 85 kilometres (53 miles) northwest of the town of Hammerfest and 50 km southeast of Statoil's Snoehvit gas field followed two dry Barents wells drilled in 2005 by Statoil and Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) after the government reopened the area.
Bore said: "From the very beginning, when exploration began in the Barents Sea in 1980, everyone was looking for oil because that was what could be developed because of the distance to the market...that has changed with the Snoehvit development."
Statoil's Snoehvit, due on stream in 2007, is the first petroleum development in the Barents Sea. That field is being developed for liquefied natural gas (LNG) primarily for the lucrative U.S. market.
Bore said it could be possible to use the Snoehvit processing facilities at Melkoya island near Hammerfest for gas volumes from a Goliat development.
Oil and gas companies operating off Norway have increasingly looked northward for new resources as production from existing oilfields further south, in the North Sea, is beginning to taper off though Norwegian gas production is still growing steeply.
"The discovery in the deeper formations is considered very positive as it shows petroleum potential which has not earlier been confirmed in this part of the Hammerfest basin," the NPD said.
Eni made the discovery with Ocean Rig's (OCR.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) Eirik Raude drilling rig in licence 229. Eni owns 65 percent of the licence. Its partners are Norway's Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) with 20 percent and Norwegian DNO (DNO.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) with 15 percent.
The discovery was made in 343 metres of water and the well was drilled to a total depth of 2,701 metres below the sea surface, the NPD said.
Eni shares traded up 0.1 percent at 23.88 euros at 0920 GMT on the Milan stock exchange.
Statoil's stock was up 0.3 percent at 160.50 Norwegian crowns in Oslo, and DNO was up 0.4 percent at 60.50 crowns.
posted by Marcel at 5:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home