Equinor Has Made Four Discoveries in Norwegian North Sea This Year

Equinor ASA has declared a fourth discovery on the Norwegian side of the North Sea this year, in a gas well on the Gina Krog oil and gas field with recoverable resources of up to 16 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).

“The discovery is small, but gas production can start as early as 2023”, the Norwegian majority state-owned company said in a press release Monday. Gas will be exported to the European market.

The well will be put onstream through the Gina Krog production platform, which has been in service since June 30, 2017.

“The discovery will help extend the lifetime and strengthen the profitability of Gina Krog and is important for the entire Sleipner area”, Camilla Salthe, senior vice-president for field life extension at Equinor, said in a statement for the announcement. The Gina Krog field and platform sit about 19 miles northwest of the Sleipner area, which consists of gas and condensate fields, according to the energy giant.

“It [the new discovery] will quickly bring new gas to Europe with good profitability and low CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions from production”, Salthe added, noting the Gina Krog project has already been electrified. The electrification of oil and gas production projects curbs their greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the use of fossil fuels in running their operations.

The latest discovery, drilled by the Noble Lloyd Noble rig, is the first in Gina Krog since 2011. It is Equinor’s fourth in the Norwegian North Sea and fifth overall in the Nordic country in 2023.

On August 18 Equinor announced commercially viable results from a well in the North Sea’s Troll/Farm area. With estimated volumes of nine to 35 MMboe, this is the ninth discovery in 12 attempts in the area since 2019, according to Equinor. The recoverable resources consist of petroleum and gas, mostly oil.

“It is positive that we can still make such discoveries in an area with a good oil and gas infrastructure, allowing the discoveries to be developed at low costs and with low CO2 emissions”, Geir Sortveit, a senior vice-president for exploration and production at Equinor, said in a news release at the time.

The eighth Equinor discovery in the Troll/Farm area was announced March 14. Contents were estimated at 24–84 MMboe, with more oil than gas, Equinor said in a media release at the time.

On February 9 Equinor announced the seventh discovery in the area, with initial oil and gas estimates of 17–47 MMboe, mainly oil.

While four of the five Equinor discoveries in Norway this year sit in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea yielded the company’s first exploration success in 2023. On January 23 Equinor announced commercially exploitable results for production license 1128 showing about 12.6–69.2 MMboe.

“We need to find more gas on the NCS [Norwegian continental shelf]. Discoveries near existing infrastructure require less volume in order to be commercially developed, and can be quickly put on stream with low CO2 emissions”, Grete B. Haaland, a senior vice-president for exploration and production at Equinor, said in a press release at the time.

Stavanger city-headquartered Equinor operates the Gina Krog project with a 58.7 percent stake. Kufpec Norway AS holds 30 percent and PGNiG Upstream Norway has 11.3 percent.

In the Norwegian Sea, Equinor is the operator for production license 1128 with a 70 percent interest. Fellow Norwegian state-owned firm Petoro AS holds 20 percent and Wintershall Dea Norge AS has the remaining 10 percent.

More Gas for Europe

Besides the new Gina Krog discovery, the Eirin field is another project that Equinor is developing to be connected to the Gina Krog platform.

On September 15 Equinor announced it had submitted the development plan for Eirin to the Norwegian Petroleum and Energy Ministry, expecting to recover 27.7 MMboe, mainly gas.

The pending project would extend the Gina Krog platform's life from 2029 to 2036, said Equinor, which targets to put Eirin online as early as 2025.

"Utilizing Gina Krog’s infrastructure will enable Eirin to bring new gas to Europe fast, with good profitability and low CO2 emissions from production", Salthe said in a news release at the time.

Gina Krog has been a key gas supplier for the region since the 2021 energy crisis, according to Equinor. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine February 2022 would later compound the disruption in energy supply and demand and the resulting surge in prices brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

“When the energy crisis hit in 2021, there was close collaboration with Norwegian authorities to deliver the maximum amount of gas to Europe”, Equinor noted in Monday’s media release announcing the latest discovery. “The Gina Krog partnership significantly increased its gas export by exporting gas previously used for injection for oil extraction.

“At the same time, it triggered a need to accelerate projects that can extend the lifetime of the field.

“Together with the Eirin development, the discovery is an important part of this work”.

Norway remained the European Union’s top pipeline gas exporter in the first quarter of 2023 accounting for 53 percent or 21.7 billion cubic meters (766.33 billion cubic feet), according to the bloc’s latest quarterly gas market report published October 6. That marked a rise from 47 percent during the prior quarter and 28 percent in the first three-month period of 2022, according to the report on the European Commission website.

Norway had been Europe’s number two source of natural gas next to Russia before the war. Amid trade sanctions against the Putin regime over the invasion, Norway overtook Russia as the EU’s top natural gas exporter last year. Norway accounted for 24.4 percent of the region’s imports 2022, compared to 15.3 percent from Russia, according to a bulletin update May 3 by EU statistics agency Eurostat.

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