BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. Norway’s Equinor company has discovered oil in exploration well 7720/7-DD-1H, drilled in the Drivis structure on the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, Trend reports via the company.
According to preliminary estimates, the size of the discovery is between 9 and 15 million barrels of oil.
“Only a short time after Johan Castberg came on stream and is producing at full capacity, we have made a new discovery that can provide additional reserves for the field,” said Grete Birgitte Haaland, Equinor’s senior vice president for Exploration & Production North.
She noted that Johan Castberg’s volume base was originally estimated at 450–650 million barrels, and Equinor’s ambition is to increase reserves by another 250–550 million barrels. “To realise this, we are planning six new IOR (increased oil recovery) wells and continuous exploration activity. At the same time, we will develop Isflak as a rapid field expansion with planned start-up in 2028,” Haaland added.
The oil was proven in a new segment called the Tubåen formation, 1,769 metres below the seabed in 345 metres of water. The well was drilled by the Transocean Enabler drilling rig as an exploratory extension from a production well. The licensees will consider tying in the discovery to the Johan Castberg field.
On June 17, the Johan Castberg field reached plateau production and is now producing about 220,000 barrels of oil per day. Every three to four days, a loaded tanker departs from the field.