Equinor makes eighth oil, gas find of the year

Norway's Equinor announced on March 14 its eighth oil and gas discovery of the year near the giant Troll field in the Norwegian North Sea, estimating its size at between 24 and 84mn barrels of oil equivalent.

The discovery, which is also Equinor's second near Troll this year, contains slightly more oil than gas, the company said. It has been named Heisenberg.

The find is "commercially interesting," Equinor said, given it could be tied to existing infrastructure linked to the Troll B platform. But an appraisal well is needed to determine how much of its resources can be recovered. Equinor and its licence partner DNO are considering drilling that well in 2024.

"Our Troll exploration play keeps delivering," Equinor said. "With discoveries in eight out of nine exploration wells, we are approaching a success rate of 90%. We plan to further explore the area, while looking at possible development solutions for the discoveries that have been made."

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the Heisenberg discovery well encountered a 6-m gas column over an 8-m oil column in sandstone layers with moderate reservoir quality.

The latest find comes just over a month after Equinor reported the Rover South discovery in the same area.