Equinor Concludes Drilling Of 34/8-18 S Well In North Sea

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) , operator of production license 120, has struck oil in the Telesto exploration well in the North Sea. This represents the 26th exploration well in the license since it was awarded in 1985 in licensing round 10-A.

Equinor along with partners — Petoro, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Repsol— completed the drilling of 34/8-18 S well, the goal of which was to confirm petroleum in early Jurassic reservoir rocks (the Statfjord group).The well was drilled about 2.5 kilometers east of the Visund A platform and 155 kilometers west of Floro in the northern part of the North Sea.

The Telesto exploration well, which was drilled on Feb 9 from the Visund A platform in the Tampen, hit an oil column of about 115 meters in the upper and lower part of the Statfjord group in sandstone with moderate reservoir quality. The upper part of the Statfjord group has an effective reservoir of 17 meters. The lower Statfjord group, which has an effective reservoir of 20 meters, also encountered oil-water contact at about 3170 meters below sea level.

About 15 meters of aquiferous sandstone with poor reservoir quality was discovered in the upper part of the Lunde formation in the Upper Triassic.

The discovery is estimated to hold recoverable resources of about 12-28 million barrels of oil. While data acquisition and sampling have been acquired for further analysis, the well has now been plugged and abandoned. Equinor and partners will now contemplate options to progress with this discovery.

About Visund

Located 22 kilometers northeast of the Gullfaks field in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea, Visund is an oil and gas field in blocks 34/8 and 34/7.

The field, which came online in the spring of 1999 comprises a floating production, drilling and quarters platform. The subsea-completed wells on the field are tied back to the floater with flexible risers. Oil is transferred to Gullfaks for storage and export.

Equinor’s endeavors to improve recovery of resources in mature fields are commendable. The company has operations in all major hydrocarbon-producing regions of the world, with an emphasis on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). We believe that the company is well positioned to sustain steady production growth over the next few years on the back of large resource base at NCS.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Equinor carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors interested in the energy sector can opt for some better-ranked stocks as given below.

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Madrid, Spain-based Repsol (MC:REP), S.A. (OTC:REPYY) is an integrated energy company. The bottom line for 2019 is expected to increase 13.7% year over year. The company delivered average positive earnings surprise of 9% in the trailing four quarters. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2.

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