North Sea drilling leads to another oil & gas discovery where 12 more sprung up since 2018

Norwegian state-owned energy giant Equinor has made a new oil and gas discovery in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, using one of the semi-submersible rigs owned by Odfjell Drilling, an offshore drilling contractor.

The latest oil and gas find on the Rhombi prospect, estimated at between 13 and 28 million barrels of oil equivalent, is located near the Fram field in the North Sea, where 12 other discoveries came to light over the previous six years. The license partners are Equinor (operator, 45%), Vår Energi (40%), and Inpex Idemitsu Norge (15%).

The exploration well with sidetrack, drilled by the Deepsea Atlantic semi-submersible rig about 10 kilometers north of the Troll field in the North Sea, has resulted in a commercially viable discovery made in two different structural segments in Sognefjord and Fensfjord formations with fair to very good reservoir characteristics.

Geir Sørtveit, Equinor’s Senior Vice President for Exploration & Production West in Norway, commented: “This is an exciting discovery in one of our core areas that has well-developed infrastructure for both oil and gas. We are actively exploring in this area and have made many discoveries here in recent years. We are now working on how these discoveries can best be developed to achieve good resource utilisation, good profitability and low emissions.”

While both oil and gas were discovered, slightly more than half is said to be gas and the license owners will consider tie-in to existing infrastructure and other prospects in the area. This is the first discovery in this area in 2024, apart from an appraisal well in a previous discovery. The discovery is situated in the part of the North Sea where 12 other discoveries were made from 2018 to 2023.

Torger Rød, Vår Energi’s COO, remarked: “We congratulate Equinor for their safe and successful drilling operation, which again proves the potential in the highly prolific Fram area. Its close proximity to existing infrastructure provides further opportunities for a low emission and cost-efficient development.”

Vår Energi underlines that the Fram area has seen extensive exploration successes in recent years with Echino South and Blasto being moved forward as the Fram South development project, while Mulder and now Rhombi are lining up to provide future high-value production. The company will participate in six exploration wells in the area over the next three years.

At the end of September 2024, Equinor and its partner, DNO, used Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig to drill a wildcat well in the northern part of the North Sea, but the discovery was not profitable given current price assumptions. However, the Norwegian giant did make another one in the North Sea a week before, which it was going to assess due to other prospectivity in the area.