Equinor to acquire interest, operatorship of Halten area license from Shell

Equinor Energy AS agreed to acquire Shell’s equity and operatorship of the Linnorm gas discovery in production license (PL) 255, adding to its interests in the Halten area of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) where it has producing hubs.

Linnorm was discovered in the central part of the Norwegian Sea, about 50 km northwest of Draugen field in water depth of 300 m. The discovery was proven in 2005 and delineated in 2007. The high pressure, high temperature reservoir—in the Ile, Tofte, and Tilje formations of Early to Middle Jurassic age with variable quality—contains relatively dry gas with high CO₂ content.

It is the largest undeveloped gas discovery on the NCS with an estimated 25-30 billion cu m of recoverable gas resources, Equinor said in a release Dec. 14.

Equinor said it will continue to evaluate a tie-back for Linnorm to its operated Kristin or Åsgard B installations to add gas resources to the European market.

The acquisition, conditional upon taking over operatorship from A/S Norske Shell and approval of Norwegian authorities, is expected to close in first-quarter 2024.

A/S Norske Shell is operator of PL255 with 30% interest until the transaction is completed. Partners are Petoro AS (30%), Equinor (20%), and TotalEnergies EP Norge AS (20%).