The well was drilled about 3 km southwest of the Edvard Grieg platform.

The field was proven in the autumn of 2007, and consists of Cretaceous and Jurassic/Triassic reservoir rocks. Before well 16/1-27 was drilled, the operator’s resource estimate for the field was 35 MMscm of recoverable oil equivalents.

The objective of the well was to investigate the scope of the field, its reservoir properties and total oil column in the southwestern part of Edvard Grieg field. The objective also included optimizing the drainage strategy in order to ensure the best possible placement of development wells in this area.

Well 16/1-27 encountered a total oil column of 15 m in Cretaceous and Triassic/Jurassic sandstone with very good reservoir quality. Overall, the sandstone interval was 94 m, an increase from 38 m expected before the well. The oil/water contact was encountered 1948 m below the sea surface, which is 9 m deeper than the contact in the other part of Edvard Grieg field.

Extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out.

Preliminary calculations shows that the results from the well can lead to an increase of between 1.6 to 4.8 MMscm of recoverable oil in this part of Edvard Grieg field. Further work is expected to reduce the uncertainty in this estimate. The results have provided valuable information with regard to final placement of production and water injection wells.

16/1-27 is the 11th exploration well in Production Licence 338 and the eighth exploration well on Edvard Grieg. The licence was awarded in APA 2004. 

Appraisal well 16/1-27 was drilled to a vertical depth of 2229 m below the sea surface and was terminated in granitic basement. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

The well was drilled by the Island Innovator drilling facility.