Neptune Energy and its partners in the Dugong licence announced drilling has commenced on the Dugong appraisal well, located in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

The well is being drilled by the Deepsea Yantai, a new semi-submersible rig owned by CIMC and operated by Odfjell Drilling.

The Neptune-operated Dugong discovery, in Production Licence 882, was one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2020. Neptune estimates recoverable resources to be between 40 - 120 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

Neptune Energy’s Managing Director in Norway, Odin Estensen, said: “Thanks to a collaborative approach between Neptune, our licence partners and key contractors, we are progressing with the Dugong project at pace and have reached another important milestone.

“This exciting new discovery is located close to existing infrastructure and has the potential to become a new core growth area for Neptune in Norway. The ongoing activity underlines our commitment to investing in the region and to growing our presence in Norway.”

Dugong is located 158 kilometres west of Florø, Norway, at a water depth of 330 metres, and is close to the existing production facilities of the Snorre field. The reservoir lies at a depth of 3,250 - 3,400 metres.

Neptune Energy’s Director of Subsurface in Norway, Steinar Meland, said: “The main objective of the appraisal well is to collect the data necessary to help provide certainty related to the reservoir, structure and recoverable resources, so the partnership can optimise the development solution.

“Data from this well will also provide valuable information to help de-risk additional exploration and development opportunities in the licence and in the surrounding area.”

Neptune and the Dugong partners plan to drill an exploration well in the licence in the third quarter of 2021, targeting the Dugong Tail prospect.

Dugong licence-partners: Neptune Energy (operator and 45%), Petrolia NOCO (20%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (20%) and Concedo (15%).

About Neptune Energy Norge AS

Neptune Energy Norge is a subsidiary of Neptune Energy. The company is the operator of the Gjøa field in the North Sea. It has three operated development projects: Fenja, Duva and P1. The Company is a partner in several producing fields: Bauge (under development), Brage, Draugen, Fram, Gudrun, Hyme, Ivar Aasen, Njord and Snøhvit. Neptune Energy Norge is a participant in a total of 75 licences. For the full year 2019, Neptune produced 67 kboepd in Norway.

About Neptune Energy Group

Neptune Energy is an independent global E&P company with operations across the North Sea, North Africa and Asia Pacific. The business had production of 144,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019 and 2P reserves at 31st December 2019 of 633 million barrels of oil equivalent. The Company, founded by Sam Laidlaw, is backed by CIC and funds advised by Carlyle Group and CVC Capital Partners.

About Odfjell Drilling

Odfjell Drilling is a listed international drilling, well service and engineering company with 2500 employees and operations in more than 20 countries.