Equinor Finds Oil Near Johan Castberg Field in Barents Sea

Transocean Enabler drilling rig (Credit: Transocean)

Equinor and its partners have made an oil discovery near the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.

The discovery was made in the Skrugard North Tubåen prospect by drilling a wildcat well 7220/5-EC-2 H, located around 6 kilometers north of the 7220/8-1 discovery well on the Johan Castberg field and 240 kilometers northwest of Hammerfest.

The well was drilled by Transocean’s Transocean Enabler semi-submersible drilling rig.

Preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery is between 1.2-1.7 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent (o.e.), which corresponds to 7.6-10.5 million barrels of o.e.

The licensees are considering whether it may be possible to tie the field back to the Johan Castberg field.

This is the 17th exploration well in production license 532, which was awarded in the 20th licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2009.

The licensees in the production license are Equinor which acts as the operator with 46.3% stake, with partners Vår Energi holding 30% and Petoro the remaining 23.7% interest.