Statoil and partner Petoro have proven considerable additional resources in the Shetland Group/Lista Formation in the Gullfaks licence.

The Shetland Group and the Lista Formation are younger and slightly shallower deposits with different properties compared to the deposits of the Brent Group where the Gullfaks main reservoirs are located.

Indications of hydrocarbons in the Shetland Group/Lista Formation in the Gullfaks licence have been known for a long time, but they have not yet been developed due to poor reservoir qualities. A new well test in this interval however indicates good flow rates.

"The discovery provides new volumes that can give high-value production in a short time as well as new and promising perspectives for the field and the installations," says Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Development and Production Norway. "This is a result of Statoil's strategy for revitalisation of the Norwegian continental shelf."

Tags: Statoil