Discovery in the Hamlet exploration well near Gjøa

Neptune Energy, with Wintershall Dea as one of the partners, has made an oil and gas discovery in the Hamlet prospect in the Norwegian North Sea, where Wintershall Dea holds a 28% interest. The discovery is estimated to contain between 30 – 50 million barrels of oil equivalents in place and will be evaluated as a possible tie-back to the nearby Gjøa platform.

The Hamlet discovery is in a key focus area for Wintershall Dea, as operator of the Vega field and the Nova development, both of which are subsea fields and tied back to Gjøa, where the company also has a 28% share. They are prime examples of Wintershall Dea’s subsea expertise in Norway and the company’s ambition to develop discoveries as efficient as possible.

“Recent history shows that the North Sea continues to be a rich source of discoveries, which can be connected to existing infrastructure in order to reduce lead times and greenhouse gas emissions intensity. This latest find supports our strategy of exploring in areas close to our existing producing assets,” said Roy Davies, Exploration VP for Wintershall Dea Norge.

The discovery is located in the Gjøa license, PL153, some 58km west of Florø, Norway’s most western town, in the Northern North Sea. The main bore with sidetrack was drilled at a water depth of 358 metres from the Deepsea Yantai, a semi-submersible rig operated by Odfjell Drilling.

Work is continuing to confirm the recoverable resources, but Neptune Energy’s preliminary estimate is 8-24 mmboe, including resources previously proven by the 35/9-3 T2 well in 1997. The license group has initiated studies to evaluate whether commercial development options exist for the discovery.

The Hamlet-partners are Neptune Energy (operator and 30%), Petoro (30%), Wintershall Dea (28%), and OKEA (12%).