Equinor eyes Barents Sea oil province expansion with potential oil discovery tieback

Equinor Energy AS and partners will consider a tie back of a new oil discovery to Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, 220 km northwest of Hammerfest. Preliminary discovery volume estimates at the in the Polynya Tubåen prospect are 2.3–3.8 million std cu m of recoverable oil equivalent (14–24 MMboe).

Wildcat well 7220/7-5, the 17th exploration well in production license 532, was drilled about 16 km southwest of discovery well 7220/8-1 well by the COSL Prospector rig in 361 m of water, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,119 m subsea. It was terminated in the Fruholmen formation from the Upper Triassic. The objective was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Tubåen formation.

The well encountered a 26-m gas column and a 26-m oil column in the Tubåen formation in reservoir rocks totaling 39 m, with good to very good reservoir quality. The total thickness in the Tubåen formation is 125 m. The gas-oil contact was encountered at 972 m subsea, and the oil-water contact was encountered at 998 m subsea.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive volumes of data and samples were collected. It will now be permanently plugged.

‘New’ Barents Sea oil province

The discovery comes as Equinor aims to increase volumes in the Johan Castberg area—originally estimated at 500–700 million bbl—by an additional 200–500 million bbl, with plans to drill 1-2 exploration wells per year in the region, Equinor said.

“With Johan Castberg, we opened a new oil province in the Barents Sea one year ago. It is encouraging that we are now making new discoveries in the area,” said Grete Birgitte Haaland, area director for Exploration and Production North at Equinor. Production at Johan Castberg began in 2025. 

In June 2025, the Drivis Tubåen oil discovery was made in the area, estimated at 13–20 million barrels in the Drivis structure, and last week, construction began for the development of Isflak, the first discovery to be tied into Johan Castberg. Aker Solutions in Sandnessjøen is building a well frame for two new wells that will be connected to existing subsea infrastructure.

Equinor Energy AS is operator of PL 532  with 46.3% interest. Partners are Vår Energi ASA (30%) and Petoro AS (23.7%).