BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 30. A new appraisal
well at the Afrodite gas discovery near Norway's Kvitebjørn field
indicates that recoverable resources could be more than twice as
large as previously estimated, Equinor said on October 29.
Afrodite is a High Pressure High Temperature well. In addition,
the reservoir is a so-called "tight" reservoir with low
permeability. This means that the gas flows slowly through the rock
and that it is difficult to extract the volumes.
Owners are Equinor: 60 %, ORLEN Upstream Norway AS: 25 %,
DNO Norway AS: 10 %, Wellesley Petroleum AS: 5 %.
Recoverable gas and condensate volumes are now estimated at
between 77 million and 180 million barrels of oil equivalent
(boe).
"The total volumes in the reservoir are about three times as
large, but the reservoir properties mean that only parts of the
resources can be recovered," the company said.
Discovered in 2008, Afrodite has relatively low permeability,
meaning gas flows slowly through the reservoir rock, making the
resources challenging to recover.
"The results from the appraisal well will now be analysed
further," Equinor said.
"Equinor considers the discovery to be commercially viable and
will continue to work on the possibility of a subsea development
tied back to the Kvitebjørn platform," the company said.
If developed, the gas could be transported through existing
infrastructure to the Kollsnes processing plant in Øygarden and
subsequently supplied to the European market.
The appraisal well was drilled by the Deepsea Yantai rig.
Wellesley is the operator of the well, while Equinor operates the
production licence.
