Norsk Hydro confirms oil find at Nucula prospect UPDATE

Norsk Hydro confirms oil find at Nucula prospect UPDATE

	Published : Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:53 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updates with detail on oil find, comment from company)

STAVANGER (AFX) - Norwegian oil and gas producer Norsk Hydro ASA has confirmed a new oil and gas find at the Nucula prospect in the Barents Sea.

Hydro said the drilling was carried out using a semi-submersible drilling unit about 110 km north-east of the massive Goliath discovery, which lies about 65 km north of the Norwegian town of Honningsvag.

Hydro, which recently sold its oil and gas operations to Statoil in a deal which takes effect in the third quarter, did not say how big the find was potentially.

But unconfirmed industry reports earlier in the week said geological tests showed that Nucula could contain 300-500 mln barrels of oil.

If that potential is realised it would dwarf the nearby mammoth Goliath field, licence No 229, which is by comparison thought to contain 250 mln barrels of oil.

Norsk Hydro today said the Nucula well was not production tested, but extensive data collection and sampling work had been carried out.

'As operator for production licence 393, Hydro has now completed drilling of exploration well 7125/4-1 on the Nucula prospect,' Norsk Hydro said in a statement.

'It is positive that a new, functioning petroleum system has been proven in this part of the Barents Sea, too.'

'However, it is important to emphasise that there is a need for further evaluation and analysis of collected data in order to ascertain whether or not the discovery is commercial,' said Norsk Hydro spokesman Tore Lilloe-Olsen.

As operator, Norsk Hydro has a 30 pct stake in the field.

The other licence holders are Eni Norge AS with 30 pct, BG Norge AS with 20 pct, and Petoro AS with 20 pct.

The region containing Goliath and the new Hydro find lies in the environmentally sensitive Barents Sea, a coastal region in which petroleum operations are currently not allowed.

Since 1980 nearly 70 wells have been drilled in the Norwegian Barents, but there have been only two commercial discoveries to date, Goliath and Snohvit.

In January, a Statoil senior executive said he hoped the Goliath field could be in operation as early as 2013-2014.

patrick.mcloughlin@thomson.com

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