Norway’s Aasta Hansteen grows by a quarter

New discoveries have been made near to Statoil's development, adding additional reserves to the project

Discoveries close to Statoil’s NKr30bn ($3.7bn) Aasta Hansteen gas development — due on stream in 2017 — have raised its likely reserves by 25%. The additional reserves will make Aasta Hansteen more robust and will prolong its production plateau, lifting project returns for Statoil and partners Wintershall, OMV and ConocoPhillips. The latest, mid-April, discovery was made with the 6706/12-3 well, drilled into the Roald Rygg prospect, about 12 km west of Aasta Hansteen in the northern Norwegian Sea. Statoil said the well found a 38-metre gas column with “very good” reservoir quality. Earlier this spring, a discovery was made in the Snefrid Nord prospect, lying between Roald Rygg and Aasta Han