Norway’s Aker BP has increased the reserves estimate for the Yggdrasil offshore development by about 10% following the results of its latest exploration well in the field.
The Ost Frigg Beta/Epsilon well — the longest exploration well ever drilled on the Norwegian continental shelf, according to Aker BP — led the company to update the size of the discovery to a low-end estimate of 53 million barrels of oil equivalent, or about a third higher than a preliminary estimate issued in May.
The upper range of the find remained unchanged at an estimated 90 million boe.
The revision boosted total estimated reserves by about 10%.
“We’re talking about a total increase in resources of approximately 10%,” Lars Hoier, Aker BP senior vice president for Yggdrasil, said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve just delivered.”
The Ost Frigg Beta/Epsilon well included a vertical main track and three horizontal sidetracks that together ran to almost 8200 metres in drilled length.
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Aker BP drilling superintendent Hanna Tronstad said the company now plans to drill 55 wells in the Yggdrasil area, “now we’ve proven that we can drill horizontally over very long distances”.
With the drilling programme scheduled to start in 2025, “we’ll be spending the years leading up to this ensuring efficient planning and implementation of the production wells, many of which are horizontal”, Tronstad added.
The Ost Frigg Beta/Epsilon exploration well was drilled by the semi-submersible rig Scarabeo 8 to test the productivity of several structures, according to Aker BP.
