Lundin starts drilling offshore Norway

• Tweet

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Swedish energy company Lundin Petroleum announced that it is drilling an appraisal well in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea.

Lundin said its Norwegian subsidiary started drilling an appraisal well in the southeastern section of the Johan Sverdrup discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Lundin said the objective of the drilling is to determine reserve characteristics and depth of the discovery area. Drilling operations should take about 45 days.

Last week, Norwegian energy company Statoil said it reported a 98-foot gross column of oil from appraisal well 16/2-15 in the Johan Sverdrup discovery.

Statoil last year estimated there were 900 million-1.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent there, twice previous estimates. A 114-foot oil column was discovered in the area in August.

Statoil and Maersk Oil Norway are projects partners for Lundin Petroleum.