Equinor Makes Oil and Gas Find in North Sea, Off Norway

Norwegian oil firm Equinor has made an oil and gas discovery near the Troll field in the North Sea, offshore Norway.

Equinor said Friday that the recoverable resources are estimated at between 7 and 11 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent, corresponding to 44 – 69 million barrels of oil equivalent. 

The Røver North discovery was made at the production license 923, using Seadrill's West Hercules semi-submersible drilling rig which was used to drill an exploration well 31/1-2 S and appraisal well 31/1-2 A.

Exploration well 31/1-2 S and appraisal well 31/1-2 A in production license 923 were drilled some 10 kilometers northwest of the Troll field, 18 kilometers southwest of the Fram field, and 130 kilometers northwest of Bergen.

The licensees consider the discovery commercial and will explore development solutions in towards existing infrastructure. Equinor is the operator of the license with a 40 percent stake. Partners being DNO Norge, Petoro, and Wellesley Petroleum own 20 percent, each.  

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, in order to gain a better overview of the resource base in the area, the partners will also consider drilling exploration wells in other adjacent prospects in production license 923.

The West Hercules drilling rig will now drill an exploration well 31/2-22 S in production license 090 in the northern North Sea.Credit: Equinor