OMV, the oil and gas company, has found oil in the Barents Sea. The exploration success has been made in the exploration licenses PL 537 which was signed in 2009. OMV (Norge) AS, operator of exploration license PL 537, is about to complete drilling operations on wildcat well 7324/8-1, Wisting Central. The presence of oil was proven through wireline logging, wireline testing and coring. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 905m below sea level; water depth at the site is 373m. The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned.
The objective of the well was to confirm the exploration concept and to prove hydrocarbons in middle to lower Jurassic reservoir rocks of the Upper Realgrunnen Subgroup on the Hoop High area, which so far has not seen any exploration drilling. The well results are a breakthrough for the regional exploration activities as the presence of good-quality oil shows the possible large potential of an area, which will see more exploration drilling in the near future. OMV has as a joint venture partner interests in three additional licenses in the Hoop High area. Further exploration drilling in one of the other licenses is expected for 2014.
