Equinor announces 14–24mboe oil discovery near Johan Castberg

Equinor has announced a caller lipid find astatine the Polynya Tubåen imaginable successful the Barents Sea, with estimated recoverable reserves of betwixt 14 and 24 cardinal barrels of lipid equivalent (mboe).

The institution volition link this find to the existing Johan Castberg tract infrastructure. The COSL Prospector rig conducted the drilling cognition astatine the 7220/7-5 wildcat well.

Located successful accumulation licence 532, the good was drilled astir 16km south-west of Johan Castberg find good 7220/8-1, astir 210km north-west of Hammerfest.

Well 7220/7-5 intersected hydrocarbons successful the Tubåen Formation, including a 26m state file overlying a 26m lipid column. The reservoir conception comprises 39m of reservoir-quality rock, described arsenic bully to precise good, wrong a full Tubåen Formation thickness of 125m.

The gas-oil interaction was identified astatine 972m beneath oversea level and the oil-water interaction astatine 998m beneath oversea level.

The Polynya Tubåen find follows the recognition of lipid successful the Drivis Tubåen operation successful the aforesaid country successful June 2025, with estimated recoverable volumes of 13–20 cardinal barrels (mbbl).

Equinor plans to proceed its efforts to grow reserves, with a presumption to expanding Johan Castberg’s assets basal by a further 200–500mbbl beyond its archetypal estimation of 500–700mbbl.

Development activities are besides nether mode pursuing past week’s commencement of good framework operation for Isflak, which volition beryllium the archetypal further find linked to Johan Castberg.

Aker Solutions is liable for gathering facilities for 2 much wells, which volition link to existent subsea installations.

The Johan Castberg tract is situated 220km north-west of Hammerfest and astir 100km from the Snøhvit tract successful h2o depths of astir 370m.

The tract includes 3 discoveries, Skrugard, Havis and Drivis, made betwixt 2011 and 2013. Authorities approved the improvement program successful 2018, starring to a task comprising a production, retention and offloading vas (FPSO) supported by further subsea templates with 18 horizontal accumulation wells and 12 injection wells.

Production astatine Johan Castberg began connected 31 March 2025.

Equinor exploration and accumulation northbound country manager Grete Birgitte Haaland said: “With Johan Castberg, we opened a caller lipid state successful the Barents Sea 1 twelvemonth ago. It is encouraging that we are present making caller discoveries successful the area.

“We program to drill 1 to 2 exploration wells annually successful this portion going guardant to summation the assets basal and support plateau accumulation for a longer period.”

The reservoirs incorporate lipid with state caps located wrong 3 abstracted sandstone formations, the Tubåen, Nordmela, and Stø, which day from the Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic periods and scope from depths of 1,250–1,900m.