Equinor Confirms Oil and Gas Discovery in Norwegian Sea Wildcat Well

Transocean Encourage drilling rig (Credit: Transocean)

Equinor has proven petroleum in a wildcat well in Norwegian Sea, drilled by Transocean’s Transocean Encourage semi-submersible drilling rig.

The well 6506/12-PB-3 H was tested the Smørbukk Midt prospect, located between Smørbukk and Smørbukk Sør about 250 kilometres southwest of Brønnøysund.

Preliminary calculations indicate the size of the discovery is between 1 - 3 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalent. This corresponds to between 6.3 and 18.9 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

The well is located in production licence 094, operated by Equinor with 40.95% working interest, with partners Vår Energi holding 34.3%, Petoro 14.95%, and TotalEnergies EP Norge 9.8% stakes.

The licensees aim to connect the discovery to Smørbukk Sør, which is part of the Åsgard field.

This is the 15th exploration well in production licence 094, which was awarded on 9 March 1984 (8th licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS)).

The well has been drilled by Transocean’s Transocean Encourage drilling rig, which will now continue the drilling of production well 6506/12-PB-3 AH in the Garn Formation at the same location.