Norwegian Energy Giant Equinor Makes Hydrocarbon Discovery Off Coast of Norway

Norwegian state-owned energy giant Equinor has made a new hydrocarbon discovery off the coast of Norway, using a semi-submersible rig owned by Odfjell Drilling, an offshore drilling contractor.

After drilling activities were temporarily suspended in the wake of a shallow gas discovery in PL 1014 at the Arkenstone prospect, Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig was set to sail towards PL 1119 to spud the Mistral well, which is operated by Equinor.

One of the firm’s partners is OKEA, which secured a 30% interest after the firm made arrangements with DNO to exchange partial stakes in two prospects, including this one.

OKEA has now confirmed a hydrocarbon discovery in the Mistral exploration well 6406/6-7S in the southern Norwegian Sea. Based on the preliminary estimates, the recoverable oil equivalents are between 3 and 7 million standard cubic meters, corresponding to 19 and 44 million barrels.

This well was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,024 meters and encountered a 47-meter-thick gas/condensate column in a 99-meter-thick middle Jurassic sandstone with good reservoir properties. According to the Norwegian firm, comprehensive data acquisition was carried out to assess the reservoir and fluid properties.

As a result, the PL1119 license group, currently encompassing Equinor (operator, 50% interest), Pandion Energy (20%), DNO Norge (10%), and OKEA (20%), will now evaluate the commerciality of the discovery by studying options for effective development using existing infrastructure in the area.

This discovery follows another one Equinor made with the same rig in an area where previous commercial discoveries were found in the North Sea, putting another tie-back to existing infrastructure on the table as a development option to combine the recent discoveries off the coast of Norway.