Equinor and its partner DNO have made an oil and gas discovery in the northern part of the North Sea, delineating the play-opening 2023 Heisenberg discovery and confirming its volume estimate of 24 to 56 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) with mean of 37 MMboe.
The second well, the wildcat well 35/11-30 S, was drilled in production license 827 SB from the Awards in predefined areas (APA) in 2022, using Odfjell Drilling's Deepsea Atlantic rig.
The primary objective of the drilling was in the Angel prospect. Preliminary estimates indicate the discovery is between 0.1-0.5 million Sm3 of recoverable oil equivalent, which is not profitable given current price assumptions.
Another objective for the well was to delineate the 35/10-9 Heisenberg discovery. Here, oil was proven which confirms the discovery size of 3.8-8.9 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil, corresponding to 24-56 million barrels.
The exploration well is a continuation of the work in the area. Production license 827 S was awarded in 2015 APA. The licensees have conducted exploration drilling on the “Gabriel” (35/10-6) prospect, which proved to be dry, and on Heisenberg, which was a confirmed discovery. An appraisal well was also drilled on Heisenberg earlier this year.
Equinor is the operator of the license with 51%, while DNO holds the remaining 49%.
The partners are now studying a tieback of Heisenberg to nearby infrastructure, potentially jointly coordinated with the development of other recent discoveries in this highly prolific area surrounding the Troll and Gjøa production hubs.