June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc , Europe’slargest oil company, made a natural gas discovery at a recorddepth in the northern Norwegian Sea that may equal the size ofNorway’s annual production of the fuel.
The find was made in the Gro prospect 360 kilometers (224miles) offshore Broennoeysund in Nordland and is estimated tohold 10 to 100 billion standard cubic meters of recoverable gas,the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said today. The country hadnet gas output of 99 billion cubic meters last year.
“It’s a significant find for the Norwegian Sea,” Shellspokesman David Williams said by phone from The Hague. “We’veonly got one well, one point of data, so there’s not enough datato be specific. We’ll continue to reassess the data and planwhat we’re going to do as quickly as possible.” The find may the biggest since Ormen Lange in 1997. Norway,the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter and second-biggest gassupplier, is boosting gas output to make up for dwindling crudeproduction after 40 years of pumping oil. The country is openingmore of its unexplored northern waters to drilling in areas suchas the Norwegian Sea.
Westward Development Shell, operator of the prospect, made the find in awildcat well at a depth of 1,376 meters (4,515 feet), thegreatest water depth ever in Norway, the directorate said.Wildcat wells are drilled in zones not known to be productive.
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Shell Gas Find in Norway May Be Biggest in 12 Years - Bloomberg