Statoil ASA has together with its partners Eni Norge AS and Petoro AS made a gas discovery in the Iskrystall prospect in PL608 in the Barents Sea.

Well 7219/8-2, drilled by the drilling rig West Hercules, has proved an approximately 200 metre gas column. Statoil estimates the volumes in Iskrystall to be between 6 and 25 million barrels of oil equivalents (o.e.).

Iskrystall was the second of the four prospects to be drilled in the Johan Castberg area this year with the aim of proving additional volumes for the Johan Castberg field development project. The first prospect Nunatak resulted in a small gas discovery.

"Our main goal was to find oil in Iskrystall, but unfortunately it did not materialize. We still believe we can prove more oil resources in the Johan Castberg area and will continue our exploration effort with two more wells in the Skavl and Kramsnø prospects", says Gro G. Haatvedt, senior vice president exploration Norway.

A comprehensive data acquisition program was performed in the Iskrystall well including coring, wire line logging and fluid sampling. This gives valuable geological information about the Johan Castberg area.

Statoil and the partners in the Johan Castberg project in the Barents Sea decided in June 2013 to delay the investment decision for the project to further mature the resource base and field development plans for the project. In addition there are uncertainties in the tax frame work for the project. It is necessary to conclude the remaining exploration wells and ongoing work on field development plans, until the partners are ready to make an investment decision for the project.

After completion of Iskrystall, the West Hercules rig will move back to the production license 532 to drill the Skavl prospect. Skavl is situated approximately 5 km south of the Skrugard discovery (now part of Johan Castberg).

Statoil is operator for production licence 608 with an ownership share of 50%. The licence partners are Eni Norge AS (30%) and Petoro AS (20%).

About Statoil
Statoil is an international energy company with operations in 35 countries. Building on 40 years of experience from oil and gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf, we are committed to accommodating the world's energy needs in a responsible manner, applying technology and creating innovative business solutions. We are headquartered in Stavanger, Norway with approx. 23,000 employees worldwide, and are listed on the New York and Oslo stock exchanges