Norway’s Equinor Secures Drilling Permit for Barents Sea Exploration

Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor has recently obtained a drilling permit from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) to drill an exploration well in the Barents Sea. The well, designated as 7220/7-CD-1 H, is located in production license 532 and is expected to be drilled in April 2025.

Equinor holds a 46.3% interest in the license, with Vår Energi and Petoro as partners with 30% and 23.7% interests respectively. The drilling operation will be carried out using the Transocean Enabler semi-submersible rig, a state-of-the-art rig built in South Korea in 2016. The rig has been under contract with Equinor for several years and has proven to be a reliable asset for offshore drilling operations.

The drilling contract, which includes 19 wells with additional options, was valued at $415 million, with a significant portion allocated to the fixed part of the contract. The NOD has been encouraging companies to explore frontier areas to unlock new resource potential, leading to the expansion of exploration blocks in the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea.

Despite recent drilling activities in the Norwegian North Sea, Equinor did not discover any hydrocarbons in two wells. This follows a previous successful oil and gas discovery in the same area, highlighting the unpredictable nature of exploration activities in offshore fields.