Equinor and its partners have announced a significant new oil discovery in the Polynya Tubåen prospect (well 7220/7-5) in the Barents Sea. The discovery was made using the COSL Prospector, a semi-submersible drilling rig owned by COSL Drilling Europe AS.
Approximately 16 kilometres southwest of the discovery well on the Johan Castberg field and 210 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.
Preliminary calculations estimate between 14 and 24 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent (2.3–3.8 million standard cubic metres).
The well encountered a 26-metre gas column and a 26-metre oil column within the Tubåen Formation, showing good to very good reservoir quality.
Equinor and its partners, Vår Energi and Petoro, are evaluating a subsea tie-back to the existing Johan Castberg infrastructure to strengthen the field’s development and maintain production plateaus.
This find is the 17th exploration well in production licence 532, which was originally awarded in 2009. It follows the start of production at the main Johan Castberg field in early 2025.
Note by Alessandro Bazzoni