Norway Steps Up Oil Exploration in North Sea

Global oil well operators, Equinor and Aker BP, have received regulatory approvals to drill a pair of new wells in the Norway’s North Sea in the last two days. Norway had 7.7 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves as of 1 January 2022, the largest oil reserves in Western Europe.

Norway Offshore Directorate’s (NOD) Director General Torgeir Stordal, said that Norway was on track for nearly 40 exploration wells this year.

Equinor’s planned drilling of the Ringand prospect in Block PL 923 in the prodigious Troll area, which contains numerous fields and discoveries. Drilling is planned in the third quarter using the deepwater rig Deepsea Atlantic.

According to joint venture partner DNO, Ringand has the potential to contain between 10 million and 37 million boe, and has a high chance of success. Equinor holds a 60% interest in PL 923, with DNO and Petoro each on 20%.

The NOD also approved Aker BP’s application to drill the Njargasas prospect in Block PL 1110 on Thursday.

The well will be drilled using the Deepsea Nordkapp, and has pre-drill potential of between 23 million and 110 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to Aker BP. The partnership comprises operator Aker BP, Vaar Energi and Wintershall Dea.

The large Peon discovery is located very nearby to the northwest, while the producing Gjoa and Duva fields sit to the southeast. Drilling of Njargasas is planned for the fourth quarter this year.

“It’s great to see such high levels of exploration activity. It is important to identify resources we can develop over existing infrastructure. Some of this year’s discoveries are candidates for development over a relatively short timeframe,” he said adding that he was pleased to see more exploration wells are being drilled in frontier areas.

“Apart from that, it’s a bit too soon to conclude on how successful the exploration has been, as we are only halfway through the year. We will be reviewing this at the end of the year,” he said.

Exploration Results

On the outcome of the exploration efforts, he said that it was great to see such high levels of activity. “It’s important to identify resources we can develop over existing infrastructure. Some of this year’s discoveries are candidates for development over a relatively short timeframe,” he added

According to him, a lot of positive things were happening on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCF) and they were still producing lot of the energy that Europe needed, with increasingly lower emissions.

“We have an industry that has been successful in developing the shelf, and we are now laying the groundwork for new industries to create value in the future. If we are going to deliver on our primary objective, which is to create as much value for society as possible, it’s important to ensure that this development continues. If I’m concerned about anything, it’s that this won’t happen,” he added.