Equinor makes oil discovery near Johan Castberg field

Equinor Energy AS and partners will evaluate a recent Barents Sea oil discovery with a view toward a possible tie-in to Johan Castberg field. Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery in production license (PL) 532 at 5-8 million std cu m (31-50 million bbl) of recoverable oil.

Well 7220/7-4, the first of four planned Barents Sea exploration wells for the company this year (as operator or partner), was drilled about 10 km southwest of the 7220/8-1 (Skrugard) discovery on Johan Castberg field and 210 km northwest of Hammerfest. Water depth at the site is 351 m.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Middle to Early Jurassic age (Stø and Nordmela formations).

The exploration well—the 11th in the license—was drilled by the Transocean Enabler harsh-environment semisubmersible drilling rig to a vertical depth of 2,080 m subsea. It was terminated in the Tubåen formation from the Early Jurassic age. The well encountered a 109 m oil column in Stø and Nordmela formations, of which about 90 m were sandstone of moderate to good reservoir quality. Oil-water contact was encountered 1,897 m subsea, but the expected gas cap was not encountered. The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were conducted.

The well will be permanently plugged, and the drilling facility will continue to drill development wells in connection with development of Johan Castberg.

Equinor Energy AS is operator of the license (50%) with partners Petoro AS (20%) and Vår Energi AS (30%).