Equinor discovers oil near Johan Castberg

Equinor Energy AS and partners will assess a new oil discovery in Snøfonn Nord, in the Barents Sea, with a view toward a possible tie-in to Johan Castberg field.

Preliminary calculations place the size of the discovery at 6-8 million standard cu m of recoverable oil.

Exploration well 7220/8-2 S—the 12th in production license (PL) 532—was drilled by the Transocean Enabler rig 5 km south-southeast of discovery well 7220/8-1 (Skrugard) and 210 km northwest of Hammerfest to a vertical depth of 1,269 m subsea. It was terminated in the Fruholmen formation from the Late Triassic. Water depth at the site is 350 m. The well has now been permanently plugged.

The objective was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Jurassic and Late Triassic (Tubåen, Nordmela, Fruholmen formations). The well encountered two oil columns in the Tubåen formation of 81 m and 13 m in the upper and lower part of the formation, respectively, in sandstone totaling about 114 m with very good reservoir quality. The deepest oil-water contact was encountered 921 m subsea.

A 20-m oil column was encountered in the Nordmela formation in sandstone with medium to good reservoir quality. Oil-water contact was not encountered.

In the Fruholmen formation, the well encountered a 14-m oil column in about 81 m of sandstone with medium to good reservoir quality. Oil-water contact was encountered 1,071 m subsea.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out.

The rig will move 800 m west in the license to drill wildcat well 7220/8-3.

Equinor is operator of PL 532 with 50% interest. Partners are Petoro AS (20%) and Vår Energi ASA