Statoil finds more Arctic oil

Statoil’s new Kayak well in the Barents Sea is believed to hold up to 50 million barrels, and the discovery can possibly be connected to the development of the nearby Johan Castberg field, according to the company.

“Getting off to a good start in the Barents Sea,” the Norwegian oil company writes in its press release about the new resources. Kayak is the first of string of Arctic wells to be drilled by Statoil this year.

“We are very pleased to have made a good discovery in our first completed well in the Barents Sea this year,” says Jez Averty, senior vice president for exploration, Norway and the UK. He confirms that efforts will be made to find a commercial solutions to connect the well with the Johan Castberg license.

The Kayak was drilled about 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of the discovery well Johan Castberg and 225 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Hammerfest, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate informs.

The well drilling was made at vertical depths of 2,532 meters (about 8,300 feet) below the sea surface, and at water depth of 336 meters (about 1,100 feet). The well was not formation tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out, the directory says.

More Arctic well drilling is coming up for the Norwegian oil major.

Drilling rig Songa Enabler will now proceed to production license 849 in the Barents Sea to complete the drilling of the Blåmann well. Next, drilling at Gemini North will start. And later, it will be the Korpfjell, a part of the prospective license PL859.

Several analysts believe the Korpfjell could hold up to 10 billion barrels of oil, which would make it an “elephant,” a field with huge resources.