Statoil finds new natural gas in the Barents Sea

“This is not the result were hoping for,” says Statoil’s Jez Averty, senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the UK, after the company’s latest Barents Sea drilling efforts.

The gas discovery was made in the Blåmann well, between the Snøhvit natural gas field and Goliat oil field in the western part of the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea.

Statoil reports recoverable volumes are estimated at 23 billion standard cubic meters, or approximately 10-20 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The company, having its most extensive drilling season in the Barents Sea, is disappointed.

“We were exploring for oil and this is not the result we were hoping for,” says Averty.

Averty, however, says the gas discovery “has the potential to contribute additional resources to the Snøhvit project.”

Snøhvit is Statoil’s gas field supplying the world’s northernmost operating liquefied natural gas plant in Hammerfest on Norway’s Barents Sea coast.

The Blåmann well, now plugged, is located some 21 kilometers (about 13 miles) southeast of the Snøhvit field.

Statoil continues its drilling campaign and the rig Songa Enabler is already on the move toward the Hoop area farther north in the Barents Sea.