Equinor Finds Gas Near Castberg Field in Barents Sea

COSLProspector drilling rig (Credit: COSL)

Equinor and its partners have made a gas discovery in the Skred prospect, located near the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, off Norway.

The 7220/5-4well was drilled about 23 kilometers north of discovery well 7220/8-1 on the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea and 210 kilometers northwest of Hammerfest.

Preliminary calculations indicate the size of the discovery is between 0.3 and 0.5 billion standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable gas.

This corresponds to 1.9 – 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The licensees will assess the discovery with a view toward a possible tie-in to the Johan Castberg field.

This is the 15th exploration well in production license 532, which was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009.

The well was drilled by the COSL’s COSLProspector semi-submersible drilling rig.

Equinor is the operator of the license with 46.3% stake, with Vår Energi holding 30% and Petoro the remaining 23.7% working interest.