Aker Barents		Songa Delta

Still abitious

Det norske will continue to be the most ambitious Company on the Norwegian continental shelf.

In 2010, the plan is to operate 10 wells. With that Det norske stands for 25 percent of all exploration wells on the NCS this year.

The aggressive exploration program is the largest as an independent Norwegian company has ever conducted on the NCS. Det norske has secured funding for this offensive efforts for several years, with a search facility of 4.5 billion NOK.

Find the drilling schedule for first half of 2010 at the right of this page.

Det norske has a long-term contract with Aker Barents (pictured above). This is the most advanced drilling rig on the market, especially suitable for deep water, and the Barents Sea.

Det norske also has a contract with Songa Delta (pictured above). This year there will also be conducted a operation with the rig Bredford Dolphin.


Ongoing operations

Det norske is currently involved in four ongoing exploration wells in the North Sea, two of these as partner and two as operator. Results from these wells can be expected in the near future.

Talisman Energy has as operator of production license 038D started drilling the appraisal well (15/12-23) at the “Grevling” discovery, less than one year after the discovery was made in 2009. The goal is to identify the oil-water contact, and to get a more secure estimate of recoverable resources. Det norske has a 30 percent interest in the license.

Talisman Energy is the operator of production license 332, southeast of the Gyda-field. Here, drilling of one exploration well started on the Optimus prospect. This well was originally planned for drilling in Q3 of this year, but has been precipitated. Det norske has a 40 percent interest in the license.

The drilling rig Aker Barents is now anchored on the drilling location in production license 460 on the Storklakken prospect. The top hole was drilled this winter, and the drilling now continues from there. Det norske has a 100 percent interest in this license. Oil is discovered. A sidetrack is planned to assess the size. Read more about the discovery at Storklakken here.

The drilling rig Songa Delta is still working with the appraisal well on Draupne (16/1-11) in license 001B. A production test will be carried through, and the license has also decided a sidetrack to try to prove the oil-water contact. Det norske has a 35 percent interest in the license

In April drilling of “Storkollen” will commence. Det norske will then operate three wells simultaneously.


Drilling results 2010

The first well in 2010 was the operations at the Frusalen prospect in production license 476. Det norske is the operator for the licence. The well was dry - read more here.

Balder Trias in license 028S were terminated late March. ExxonMobil E&P Norway is the operator. Det norske carried out the operation on behalf of ExxonMobil. The well was dry - read more about Balder Trias here.    



High activity in 2009

Det norske operated nine exploration wells in 2009, and was involved in an additional five partner operated wells. Det norske with that accounted for 18 percent of all exploration wells on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The results of the exploration activity in 2009 were not as good as hoped for. The extensive exploration program for the Norwegian Sea gave only dry wells. It was particularly the Jetta- (small discovery) and Skardkollen prospect (dry) which were most disappointing.

Det norske were a part of six discoveries in 2009.

Read all about the exploration activity in 2009 here.


Film

Click here to download a film illustrating how a drilling operation is performed!