Norway's Equinor discovers 3.3 to 10.3 million barrels of oil equivalent of gas in the North Sea

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 8, Norwegian energy company Equinor confirmed that it and its partners discovered new natural gas resources in the Gullfaks South field in the North Sea, with preliminary estimates of recoverable resources of 3.3 to 10.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, approximately 0.5 to 1.6 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent. The discovery well, designated 34/10-D-4 BH, is located approximately 190 kilometers northwest of Bergen and was drilled using the Askeladden drilling rig. The well is a sidetrack drilled during the drilling of a production well, and the discovery area lies within the existing Gullfaks production license area.

Wellbore records from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate show that well 34/10-D-4 BH began sidetracking on September 3, 2026, and was completed on September 16, with drilling operations lasting 14 days. The well is located in production license PL 050, in a water depth of approximately 134 meters, with a total measured depth of 5,515 meters. Regulatory records register it as an observation well within the development well system, and it has been plugged and abandoned after drilling was completed. The 34/10-D-4 CH production well branch at the same well site began drilling on September 17, and regulatory records still list it as being in the wellbore operations phase.

Gullfaks South is located in the Tampen area of the northern Norwegian North Sea, where the existing oil and gas field development area has a water depth of approximately 130 to 220 meters. The project operator is Equinor Energy, holding a 51% interest; partners Petoro and OMV Norge hold 30% and 19% respectively. The field began production in October 1998 and subsequently developed Gullfaks South, Rimfaks, Gullveig and other reservoirs, forming a development system consisting of 13 subsea wellhead templates and connected to the Gullfaks A and Gullfaks C offshore facilities.

The existing production system at Gullfaks South transports crude oil to the Gullfaks A platform for processing, storage and export by tanker; rich gas is processed at the Gullfaks C platform and then transported via the Statpipe pipeline to the Kårstø natural gas processing terminal in Norway. The field is also equipped with two subsea wet gas compressors, which have been used since 2017 to increase natural gas production.