Equnior announces new oil discovery
Published by Jessica Casey,
Editor
Oilfield Technology,
Equinor has made an oil discovery that will be tied into the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.
The discovery was made in the Polynya Tubåen prospect (7220/7-5). The well was drilled by the COSL Prospector rig. The preliminary volume estimate is between 14 – 24 million bbl of recoverable oil equivalents.
“With Johan Castberg, we opened a new oil province in the Barents Sea one year ago. It is encouraging that we are now making new discoveries in the area. We plan to drill one to two exploration wells annually in this region going forward to increase the resource base and maintain plateau production for a longer peri-od,” said Grete Birgitte Haaland, Area Director for Exploration and Production North at Equinor.
The volume basis in Johan Castberg was originally estimated at 500 – 700 million bbl, and Equinor has an ambition to increase this by an additional 200 – 500 million bbl.
In June 2025, an oil discovery called Drivis Tubåen was made in the Castberg area, estimated at 13 – 20 million bbl in the Drivis structure.
The week commencing 9 March 2026 marked the start of construction for the development of Isflak, the first discovery to be tied into Johan Castberg. Aker Solutions in Sandnessjøen is building a well frame for two new wells that will be connected to existing subsea facilities.
Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/19032026/equnior-announces-new-oil-discovery/