Equinor Adds to its North Sea Portfolio with Røver Sør Discovery

Equinor Adds to its North Sea Portfolio with Røver Sør Discovery

(IN BRIEF) Equinor, a Norwegian energy company, has made another oil and gas discovery, named Røver Sør, close to its Troll field in the North Sea. The size of the discovery is estimated to be between 17 and 47 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, with the majority being oil. Equinor is the operator of the production license, with partners DNO, Wellesley Petroleum, and Petoro. The discovery will be commercial as it is close to existing infrastructure and has low carbon emissions. This is the seventh discovery in the area for Equinor, bringing their total estimated volume to around 350 million barrels of oil equivalent. Another exploration well, Heisenberg, is planned for the area and its results are expected to be available in March.

(PRESS RELEASE) STAVANGER, 9-Feb-2023 — /EuropaWire/ —  Equinor ASA (OSE:EQNR, NYSE:EQNR), an oil, gas, wind and solar energy company active in more than 30 markets globally, announces that it has made a new oil and gas discovery, named Røver Sør, in close proximity to the Troll field in the North Sea. The discovery is estimated to contain between 17 million and 47 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, with the majority being oil. This marks the seventh discovery in this area since 2019, demonstrating Equinor’s continued success in exploration and production.

“Discoveries close to existing infrastructure are important to maintain oil and gas production from the Norwegian continental shelf. They need smaller volumes to be profitable and can be put on stream quickly with low carbon emissions. As this discovery is close to the Troll field and other discoveries we have made in the area, we can already now state that it will be commercial,” says Geir Sørtveit, Equinor’s senior vice president for exploration and production west operations.

Equinor operates the production license, with partners DNO, Wellesley Petroleum, and Petoro. The discovery was drilled by the Transocean Spitsbergen rig, and Equinor plans to carry out further exploration in the area later this year. The results of the next exploration well, Heisenberg, are expected to be ready in March. The total volume of Equinor’s six previous discoveries in the area is estimated to be around 350 million barrels of oil equivalent, the equivalent size of a medium-sized Norwegian oil or gas field.

“Equinor has started field development projects to coordinate the development of these discoveries by utilizing existing infrastructure in collaboration with our partners. This discovery will be part of this work,” says Sørtveit.

Equinor’s Exploration Approach

Equinor is targeting mature areas for its exploration efforts, where new discoveries can be integrated with existing infrastructure to optimize the value of investments made over the past 40 years. The company plans to drill between 20 to 30 exploration wells annually.

80% of the exploration wells will be drilled in areas close to existing infrastructure, while some new, untested regions will also be explored. The company will prioritize wells that meet three key criteria: high profitability, short payback time, and low carbon emissions.

Exploring for oil and gas is essential for maintaining cash flow from the Norwegian continental shelf and securing the gas supply needed to establish a blue hydrogen value chain.

SOURCE: Equinor ASA