Aker BP Makes Minor Gas Find In Barents Sea

Aker BP ASA has made a gas discovery in the Barents Sea and is now being analyzed, the company said May 30.

The gas discovery was made in the Svanefjell prospect in the Barents Sea.

“Per today it is not considered to be commercial, but we will re-evaluate the volume and commerciality if it is concluded that the gas is in gas hydrate phase,” Gro Gunleiksrud Haatvedt, senior vice president of exploration for Aker BP, said in a statement.

The wildcat well 7221/12-1 was drilled about 20 km west of the 7222/11-2 discovery well (Langlitinden) in the Barents Sea and about 175 km northwest of Hammerfest.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Upper Triassic reservoir rocks in the upper part of the Snadd formation.

Norway's Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said preliminary estimates show the size of the discovery to be between 2-3.5 billion standard cubic meters of recoverable gas.

In addition, preliminary results from gas samples indicate that the gas may be in the gas-hydrate phase. Attempts will be made to clarify this through further analysis, according to NPD.

The discovery is not considered to be commercial at this time. The licensees will assess the results from the well in the further evaluation of the area, NPD said.

This is the second exploration well in production license 659, which was awarded in the APA2011 round.

Aker BP is the operator. Lundin Petroleum AB and Petoro AS are also holders of the license.

Reuters contributed to this report.