Bister exploration well disappoints in Norwegian Sea

ABERDEEN, United Kingdom -- Faroe Petroleum has announced that drilling has reached target depth on the Statoil-operated Bister exploration well in the Norwegian Sea.

The Bister well, well 6407/8-7, was spudded on Apr. 27 and reached a total vertical depth of 2,990 m below sea level in the Åre Jurassic formation. This was followed by side-track 6407/8-7A, which was drilled to a total vertical depth of 2,770 m below sea level.

The well and side-track targeted hydrocarbons in the Jurassic, Ile, Tilje and Åre formations, and while good quality reservoirs were confirmed, no hydrocarbons were encountered at this location.

The Bister prospect is located in the Norwegian Sea in license PL 348/C, which is adjacent to the 2013 Snilehorn discovery (PL 348B) and near the producing Njord field and Hyme field (PL 348).

The results from the well will be used to calibrate the seismic interpretations in the license, which still contains promising exploration targets. Statoil Petroleum is the operator of the PL348 licenses and Njord field.

The Bister well was operated by Statoil (35%) using the Transocean Spitsbergen drilling rig with partners GDF Suez E&P Norge AS (15%), E.ON E&P Norge AS (17.5%), Core Energy AS (22.5%), Faroe Petroleum (7.5%) and VNG Norge AS (2.5%). It will now be plugged and abandoned as planned.

“Whilst the results for the Bister exploration well are disappointing, this was an opportunity to add further resources to an already resource rich license, which includes the producing Hyme field and the significant 2013 Snilehorn discovery," Graham Stewart, CEO of Faroe Petroleum, said.