OKEA, a Norwegian oil and gas company, has recently uncovered a significant oil reserve near the Brage field in the North Sea. According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the drilling of well 31/4-A 13 E in the northern part of the North Sea has revealed an estimated recoverable oil volume ranging between 0.2 and 0.5 million Sm3. However, the exploration of production well 31/4-A-13 D, which was extended to target two different reservoirs, did not yield any significant discoveries.

The drilling of both wells was conducted from the platform situated in the Brage field, which has been operational since 1993. The Brage field was initially discovered in 1980 within the reservoir rocks of the Statfjord and Brent Group, as well as the Fensfjord and Sognefjord Formation. The field's integrated production, drilling, and living quarters facility facilitates the transportation of oil through pipelines to the Oseberg field and further to the Sture terminal via the Oseberg Transport System (OTS) pipeline. Additionally, a gas pipeline is linked to the Statpipe pipeline system.

The decision to drill a horizontal sidetrack, well 31/4-A 13 E, was based on data collected during the drilling operation, which led to the discovery of oil in a sandstone layer approximately 10 meters thick with moderate to good reservoir quality, situated at 2147 meters below sea level within the Sognefjord Formation. Notably, the encounter did not reach the oil/water contact.

Regarding the drilling of production well 31/4-A-13 D in the southern part of the Brage field, the exploration targets in the Sognefjord and Fensfjord Formation were deemed unproductive. Although the well was not formation-tested, data acquisition was carried out before the well was permanently plugged and abandoned. The water depth at the drilling site was recorded at 137 meters.

Earlier this month, OKEA successfully initiated its first operated development project, the Hasselmus gas discovery, which is strategically integrated as a subsea tie-back to an existing platform in the Norwegian Sea. The project aims to recover approximately 1.65 GSm3 of natural gas and revitalize the export of associated gas and NGL from the Draugen field.