ORLEN: significant oil discovery in the North Sea
ORLEN Upstream Norway, together with operator Aker BP and other license partners, has achieved a significant oil discovery, with estimated resources of up to 134 million barrels of oil equivalent. This marks the largest discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf this year. Its development will contribute to advancing the strategic objectives outlined in the ORLEN 2035 Strategy.
The ORLEN Group's latest discovery in Norway was made as part of the Omega Alpha campaign, in the Yggdrasil area in the North Sea. The partners employed advanced drilling technologies that enabled rapid and precise exploration across an extensive area, significantly contributing to the success of the operation.
The drilling started with a vertical well to a depth of 2250 meters, from which several multi-lateral horizontal wells were drilled. Three of these exceeded 10 km, setting a record on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for longest laterals.
"The Omega Alpha campaign sets new standards for exploration activities. By drilling ultra-long, high-precision horizontal wells, the partners have collected high quality data, that can facilitate and accelerate potential production start-up. The Omega Alfa resources may be put into production jointly with other oil and gas fields in the Yggdrasil development where ORLEN is a shareholder. This new discovery provides ORLEN with additional volumes and can improve future cost and operational efficiency," said Wiesław Prugar, Member of the Management Board of ORLEN SA, Upstream.
During a three-month campaign, the partners drilled a total of 45 kilometers discovering considerable resources of hydrocarbons, mainly oil, with an estimated recoverable volume range of 96-134 mmboe.
When drilling horizontal wells, the partners used geo-steering technology, which allows for real-time updates of the drilling trajectory using data transmitted on an ongoing basis from sensors installed just behind the drill bit. This helps to keep the well within the oil-bearing layer, significantly enhancing the quality of reservoir data collected. This enabled partners to achieve 40 000 meters of reservoir exposure during the Omega Alpha drilling.
The Omega Alpha project involved drilling in production licenses 873, 873B and 1249. In the first two, ORLEN Upstream Norway holds a 12.3 percent share, and in the last a 9.84 percent share. The other license partners are Aker BP and Equinor, and in the case of PL1249 also Petoro. Based on ORLEN's interest in the licenses, the latest discovery will provide the ORLEN Group with additional recoverable resources estimated at 10.5-15.0 mmboe.
Omega Alpha is the second discovery made by the ORLEN Group this year. The previous one was the E-prospect reservoir, which contains estimated recoverable resources of 3-7 million barrels of oil equivalents. This discovery is in the vicinity of the producing Skarv field, where ORLEN Upstream Norway is also a license partner.
