Neptune Energy and its partners today announced hydrocarbons were encountered at the Hamlet exploration well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Having entered the reservoir, located within the Gjøa licence (PL153), logs encountered hydrocarbons and a decision was made to initiate coring.

The operations in the reservoir section are still at an early stage and it has yet to be confirmed if commercial volumes are present. A contingent side-track may be drilled to further define the extent of the discovery.

Located 58 kilometres west of Florø, Norway, at a water depth of 358 metres, Hamlet is within one of Neptune’s core areas and close to existing infrastructure.

The drilling program comprises a main-bore (35/9-16S) with an optional side-track (35/9-16A) based on the outcome of the exploration well.

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

Partners: Neptune Energy (operator and 30%), Petoro (30%), Wintershall Dea (28%), OKEA (12%).

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 recently opened up two new subsea fields, Duva and Gjøa P1, tied back to the Gjøa platform. Neptune is the operator of the development project Fenja in the Norwegian Sea. In 2020, the company made the Dugong discovery and 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 81 licences. For the full year 2021, Neptune produced 46 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 130,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2021 and 2P reserves at 31st December 2021 of 604 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.