Fresh oil & gas discovery comes to light in North Sea’s ‘exploration hotspot’

Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor has struck oil and gas once again in an area where previous commercial discoveries were made in the North Sea, putting tie-back to existing infrastructure on the table as a development option to combine the recent discoveries off the coast of Norway. The drilling activities were carried out by one of Odfjell Drilling’s semi-submersible rigs.

While revealing its new oil and gas find estimated to contain between 2 and 12 million barrels of oil equivalent, Equinor explained that the discovery was made 17 kilometers west of the Troll field in the North Sea. This is the second discovery in a short time within this area, and its preliminary name is Ringand. The well was drilled by Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig.

This discovery is estimated at between 0.3 and 2 million standard cubic meters; thus, the Norwegian oil and gas player has underlined that it will probably not be commercial for development in isolation. The new hydrocarbon find was made in the exploration well 31/1-4 within production license 923/923B, which is operated by Equinor with a 60% stake while its partners, DNO Norge and Petoro, hold 20% each.

Geir Sørtveit, Equinor’s Senior Vice President for Exploration & Production West on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), commented: “It’s a small discovery, but in an interesting area that we plan to further explore with much existing infrastructure. If more discoveries are made, it may be relevant to combine these to ensure good resource utilisation and the best possible economy.”

Equinor-operated exploration activity on the NCS generated more than 4,000 person-years of employment (FTEs) last year. The company underlines that such exploration activity is key to maintaining value creation on the NCS. The firm’s field operations, onshore facilities, exploration, and development projects generated over 80,000 person-years of employment in 2023.

DNO has also confirmed the oil and gas discovery at the Ringand prospect in the Norwegian North Sea, adding that it will consider, together with its partners, the possibility of tying back the discovery to future infrastructure in the area. This discovery is the firm’s ninth one in the exploration hotspot surrounding the Troll and Gjøa production hubs since 2021, following Røver Nord, Kveikje, Ofelia, Røver Sør, Heisenberg, Carmen, Kyrre, and Cuvette.

According to the company, Ringand lies in the same license as Røver Nord and Røver Sør, with all three within a 25-kilometer radius from the Troll B platform, a likely host candidate operated by Equinor. DNO also disclosed the play-opening Othello discovery at the start of December 2024 in license PL1086, some 40 kilometers east of the Ekofisk hub and 55 kilometers northeast of the Valhall hub.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) claims that preliminary estimates of Equinor’s oil and gas discovery in the wildcat well 31/1-4 indicate the size to be between 0.3 and 2 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, which corresponds to 1.9-12.6 million barrels.

While the primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Ness, Etive, and Oseberg formations, the secondary one was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Cook Formation.

The well 31/1-4 encountered a 112-meter gas column in the Ness, Etive, and Oseberg formations, as well as a 16-meter oil column in the Oseberg Formation, with 14 meters of poor-quality sandstone reservoir in the Ness Formation and 46 meters of sandstone reservoir in the Etive and Oseberg formations, ranging from poor to moderate quality.

Aside from this, a 13-meter gas column was found in sandstone with moderate reservoir quality in the Drake Formation. The well encountered a 6-meter aquiferous sandstone layer with moderate reservoir quality in the Cook Formation.

Even though the well was not formation-tested, extensive data acquisition and sampling were done. The gas/oil contact was encountered at 3,489 meters, and the oil/water contact was found at 3,505 meters below sea level.

The well 31/1-4 was drilled to a vertical depth of 3,772 meters below sea level and terminated in the Amundsen Formation in the Lower Jurassic. The water depth at the site is 304 meters, and the well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Ringand was the seventh exploration well in production license 923/923B, but it is registered as the first one in production license 923 B. While production license 923 was part of the awards in predefined areas (APA) 2017 and awarded in 2018, production license 923 B was awarded in 2022 thanks to APA 2021.

Based on NOD’s data, the licensees have assessed the previous discoveries as commercially profitable, and they will consider development solutions to tie back these discoveries to existing infrastructure.