Wedoany.com Report-Nov. 14, Var Energi ASA announced on Thursday that oil has been confirmed in the Zagato North appraisal well, located about 10 kilometers north of the company’s Goliat field in the Barents Sea on the Norwegian continental shelf. The appraisal well, identified as 7122/8-4 S, indicated estimated gross recoverable resources of up to three million barrels of oil equivalent in the Klappmyss and Realgrunnen formations, according to the company’s statement from Stavanger.

Zagato North yielded estimated gross recoverable resources of up to three million barrels of oil equivalent.

Zagato North is part of Production License 229, operated by Var Energi with a 65 percent share, while Equinor holds the remaining 35 percent. The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) noted that this is the 13th well drilled under the license, which was awarded in 1997 as part of the Barents Sea Project. The partners are now evaluating options to connect the newly confirmed resources to the existing infrastructure at the Goliat field.

The discovery was originally proven in February. The purpose of the current well was to delineate the 7122/8-3 S (Zagato) discovery, which lies within reservoir rocks from the Lower Jurassic–Upper Triassic and Middle Triassic periods in the Realgrunnen Subgroup and Kobbe Formation.

The NOD provided further geological details: “Well 7122/8-4 S encountered an 11-meter oil column in the Tubaen Formation in the Realgrunnen Subgroup in reservoir rocks totaling 8.5 meters with good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was encountered 1,523 meters below sea level.” It added that the well also penetrated additional reservoir rocks in the Kobbe Formation totaling 48 meters with moderate quality, though these layers were aquiferous. “An 80-meter oil column was also proven in the Klappmyss Formation in sandstone layers totaling one meter with poor reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was not encountered.”

The NOD stated that the well was not formation-tested, but comprehensive data acquisition and sampling were completed. The appraisal well reached measured and vertical depths of 2,986 meters and 2,793 meters below sea level, respectively, and was terminated in the Klappmyss Formation of the Lower Triassic. Zagato North, situated at a water depth of 406 meters, has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Var Energi said: “Zagato North is part of the Goliat Ridge appraisal program, including ongoing drilling operations at the Goliat North well, followed by a planned side-track and well test of the already drilled Zagato South well.” The company noted that the Goliat Ridge area holds estimated gross discovered resources of 36 to 103 million barrels of oil equivalent, with additional prospective resources bringing the total gross potential to as high as 200 million barrels of oil equivalent.