The past 24 hours witnessed the announcement of 4 oil and gas discoveries, by major international companies, in support of the growing demand for fossil fuels.
Today, Thursday, February 9 (2023), the Norwegian company Equinor announced a new oil and gas discovery near the Troll field in the North Sea. It is the seventh in this region since the fall of 2019.
According to preliminary estimates, the volume of the “Rover Sur” discovery ranges between 17 and 47 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, most of which is oil, according to a press release seen by the specialized energy platform.
Equinor is the production license operator, and its partners are DNO, Wellesley Petroleum and Petroro.
Oil and gas discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf
“Discoveries close to existing infrastructure are important to sustaining oil and gas production off the Norwegian Continental Shelf, as they need smaller volumes to be profitable and can be run quickly while lowering carbon emissions,” emphasized Equinor Vice President of Exploration and Production West, Geir Sortvet.
He added, “Given that this discovery is close to the Troll field and the other discoveries we have made in the area, we can now announce that it will be commercial.”
Equinor made 6 oil and gas discoveries earlier in this region, namely Ikino Sur in 2019, Swisher in 2020, Rover Nord and Plasto in 2021, and Topand and Kvikci in 2022.
There is uncertainty regarding the size of the discoveries, but the average of various estimates gives a total volume of about 350 million barrels of oil equivalent, which corresponds to a medium-sized Norwegian oil or gas field and the size of the Asta-Hanstein field in the Norwegian Sea.
“Equinor has initiated field development projects to coordinate the development of these discoveries using existing infrastructure in collaboration with our partners, and this discovery will be part of that work,” Sortveit said.
The next exploration well in this area is Heisenberg, the results of which will be ready in March, and more exploration wells are scheduled to be drilled in the area later this year (2023).
Oil discovery in the Barents Sea
For its part, the Norwegian company Far Energy announced – today, Thursday (February 9, 2023) – a new oil discovery near the Goliath field in the Barents Sea in the Arctic.
“The well has been drilled – currently – to a depth of 2,958 meters, and oil has been discovered in the Reilgrunnen and Kube formations,” Far Energy said, according to a press release seen by the specialized energy platform.
It said it plans to drill a side well to better determine the size of the discovery, stressing that “updated information regarding estimates will be released in due course.”
Far Energy received approval for exploratory drilling of this well – called Countach – northwest of Hammerfest in September 2022.
The well drilling program entails the drilling of an exploration well in Production License No. 229, of which Far Energy is the operator with a 65% stake, and Equinor owns the remaining 35%.
The largest gas discoveries in the North Sea
In a related context, Deltic Energy announced – yesterday, Wednesday (February 8, 2023) – a huge oil and gas discovery in the Pensacola well with license “B2252” in the southern North Sea.
Deltic Energy confirmed that the discovery in Pensacola could be one of the largest natural gas discoveries in the southern North Sea in more than a decade.
The company told investors that flow tests in Pensacola matched estimates, and indicated a discovery volume of about 302 billion cubic feet.
Shell and Deltic Energy had started drilling operations in the Pensacola gas well during the third quarter of 2022.
Shell owns a 65% stake in the project, while Deltec Energy owns 30%, and One Dias owns 5%.
An oil discovery off Suriname
Yesterday, Wednesday (February 8, 2023), the American company “APA Corp” announced an oil discovery in the Sabakara South-2 (SBS-2) appraisal well in Block 58, off the coast of Suriname, which is the second appraisal well for testing. Previously announced discovery.
The well is located about 4.6 km south of the Sabakara South-1 (SPS-1) appraisal well, where APA, the parent company of oil and gas producer Apache, found oil in 2021, according to Reuters.
“The results of the drilling and flow tests for SBS-2 are consistent with pre-drill expectations, confirm our geological, geophysical and reservoir models, and most importantly add significant resources toward potential development.
In November 2022, the company ended drilling operations in the Owari well in Block 58, because it is considered “non-commercial”.
Block 58 is operated by France’s Total Energy, with a 50% stake, while APA Suriname owns the remaining 50%.
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