Equinor Energy AS and production license 532 partners are considering a tieback of a Barents Sea oil discovery at the Skrugard North Tubåen prospect to Johan Castberg field.
The find 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, the company has said.
Wildcat well 7220/5-EC-2 H was drilled by the Transocean Enabler semisubmersible drilling rig about 6 km north of the 7220/8-1 discovery well on Johan Castberg field and 240 km northwest of Hammerfest, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said in a July 23 release. Water depth at the site is 361 m.
The well targeted Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Tubåen formation, encountering a 30-m oil column with good to very good reservoir quality in sandstone in the Tubåen formation in reservoir rocks totaling 41 m. Total thickness of the formation at the site is 68 m, and the oil-water contact was found at 1,474 m subsea.
Preliminary estimates put the discovery at 1.2-1.7 million standard cu m of recoverable oil equivalent (7.6-10.5 MMboe). The well was not formation-tested, but data and samples were collected. Drilled to a vertical depth of 1,521 m subsea, it was terminated in the Fruholmen formation in the Upper Triassic.
Equinor is operator of the license, with partners Vår Energi and Petoro.
