Discovery in the Storjo exploration well near Skarv

Aker BP, with Wintershall Dea as partner, has made a gas discovery in the Storjo prospect in the Norwegian Sea, where Wintershall Dea holds a 30% interest. The operator’s provisional estimate for the size of the discovery is 25 – 80 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. The discovery will be evaluated as a possible tie-back to the nearby Skarv field.

The Storjo discovery is located in a key focus area for Wintershall Dea, as the second largest equity holder in the Skarv field with a 28.1% share. By tying in additional discoveries like Storjo to the existing Skarv FPSO, Wintershall Dea and the Skarv partners can help to prolong the lifetime of the host facilities, as well as securing future gas supplies to Europe.

“This latest gas discovery continues our recent run of exploration success in Norway following our own operated Dvalin North discovery, which was one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian Shelf in 2021. Together, these discoveries add important volumes to our gas-weighted portfolio and will provide much needed energy to Europe in the coming years,” said Michael Zechner, Managing Director for Wintershall Dea Norge.

The Storjo discovery is part of a wider strategy of participating in exploration wells near existing Wintershall Dea owned infrastructure.

“The Norwegian Sea is a core area for Wintershall Dea, where we have made several significant discoveries in the past two years with Dvalin North and Bergknapp. Storjo is another example of our successful nearfield exploration strategy where we have been able to make discoveries in mature areas of the Norwegian Shelf that will also generate synergies with our producing assets,” said Georg Bresser, SVP Global Exploration for Wintershall Dea.

The Storjo discovery is located in the PL261 license, 7 km northwest of the Skarv field and 230 km west of Sandnessjøen. The well was drilled to a depth of 4904m below the sea surface in a water depth of 336 metres from the Deepsea Nordkapp, a semi-submersible rig operated by Odfjell Drilling.

Work will continue to improve the understanding of the discovery and tie-in options, as well as a possible re-entry or appraisal well in 2023.

The Storjo partners are Aker BP (operator and 70%), and Wintershall Dea (30%).