Equinor makes natural gas discovery in the Norwegian Sea

Norway’s Equinor has made a discovery of natural gas and condensate in the Norwegian Sea, close to a field currently under development, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate announced on Tuesday.

Equinor and its partners in a production license in the Haltenbanken West unit in the Norwegian Sea have demonstrated gas and condensate, a type of very light oil, in a development well drilled as part of the previously discovered Lavrans field.

Preliminary estimates put the size of the discovery in the range of 2-4 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, the Norwegian authority said.

Equinor and its license partners will now consider whether the discovery could be linked to infrastructure being developed for Lavrans, which is part of the Kristin field.

Equinor is looking to boost gas production off Norway to export more cargo to Europe after Russian flows to the continent fell significantly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In early July, the Norwegian energy major started gas production from the first Lavrans well in the Kristin South area. The gas will be exported via the pipeline system to the European market, while the oil will be transported to the market by ship via the Åsgard C storage vessel, Equinor said.

As part of the first phase of the Kristin South project, four additional wells are planned to be drilled, three at the Lavrans field and one in the Q segment at the Kristin field.

Equinor was one of 21 companies to bid in Norway’s latest licensing round for new acreage in the best-explored areas on the shelf.

The applications confirm considerable interest in exploration near existing fields and infrastructure, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate said last week.

Additional exploration efforts and new discoveries would be crucial to slowing the expected decline in Norway’s oil and gas production in the 2030s, Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland said, adding that additional resources in Norway would make an important contribution to Europe’s energy security .

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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