The Maersk Gallant rig drilled the wildcat well 2/4-23S, about 17km northeast of the Ekofisk field, near the 2/4-21 King Lear discovery in the southern part of the North Sea.
In addition to outlining the 2/4-21 discovery King Lear, the well’s first exploration target was to determine petroleum in Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks, known as the Ula formation, and Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks, known as Bryne formation.
Statoil encountered 41m of gas/condensate-filled sandstone rocks in the Ula formation, with moderate reservoir quality, in the primary exploration target, and 30 gross meters of water-filled sandstone with poor reservoir quality in the Bryne formation.
A 20m-thick gas/condensate column has also been identified in the Farsund formation.
The well’s secondary exploration target intended to verify petroleum in Upper Triassic reservoir rocks, the Skagerrak formation.
Statoil estimates the Julius prospect to hold between 15 and 75 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.
Statoil North Sea exploration vice-president May-Liss Hauknes said: "The King Lear and Julius discoveries are located in one of the most mature parts of the Norwegian continental shelf – just 20km north of Ekofisk, the first commercial NCS discovery made 45 years ago.
"The discoveries confirm Statoil’s view that even such mature areas of the NCS still have an interesting exploration potential."
The discoveries will be assessed by Statoil and Total for optimal development.
Statoil Norwegian Continental Shelf early phase field development acting head Edward Prestholm said: "Since the King Lear discovery, the main focus of the licence partnership has been to clarify the resource basis within PL146/PL333."
