Drilling Ops Yield Fertile Ground for Carbon Storage in North Sea

Equinor Low Carbon Solutions has drilled two appraisal wells, 32/7-1 and 32/4-4, in the Norwegian North Sea, 20 kilometers east of Troll A and 70 kilometers west of Bergen, confirming their suitability for CO2 storage. Drilled with Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Stavanger rig in the Gamma and Alpha areas, the wells were plugged after testing.

Deepsea Stavanger rig

Well 32/7-1 encountered 130 meters of Draupne Formation shale (cap rock), 146 meters of Sognefjord Formation sandstone (reservoir), and 145 meters of Fensfjord and Krossfjord sandstone (reservoir). It also found 83 meters of Drake Formation shale and 57 meters of Cook and Johansen sandstone. Drilled to 2,036 meters in 300-meter waters, it terminated in the Lunde Formation.

Well 32/4-4 identified 142 meters of Draupne shale, 106 meters of Sognefjord sandstone, and 165 meters of Fensfjord and Krossfjord sandstone, plus 47 meters of Drake shale and 48 meters of Cook and Johansen sandstone. Drilled to 1,879 meters in 315-meter waters, it also ended in the Lunde Formation.

Pressure data showed depletion in the Cook and Johansen formations, increasing toward Sognefjord. Four injection tests yielded positive results. Part of the Smeaheia project under license EXL 002 (awarded June 2022), these wells support Equinor’s plan to store 20 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030, using a 1,000-kilometer pipeline and ship transport.