Aker BP, an oil exploration and development company, has made a “significant” oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea.
The Norway-based company said it is about to complete drilling the Øst Frigg Beta/Epsilon exploration well, which is in licences 873 and 442 in the Yggdrasil area.
Initial estimates suggest that about 40-90 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) can be recovered from the field.
In the 873 licence, as the operator, Aker BP controls a 47.7% stake and its partners Equinor and PGNiG Upstream Norway have 40% and 12.3% stakes, respectively.
With an 87.7% stake, Aker BP is the operator in licence 442 and PGNiG Upstream Norway has a 12.3% stake in it.
Aker BP SVP Exploration & Reservoir Development Per Øyvind Seljebotn said: “We are extremely pleased with the results of this well. The discovery will be evaluated as a potential addition to the Yggdrasil development. We see further upside potential around Yggdrasil and, in collaboration with our partners, will continue active exploration in the area.”
According to Aker BP, the oil discovery increases the available resources for the Yggdrasil development. The previous pre-drill estimate for the resource base was 18-45mboe.
In December 2022, the Plan for Development and Operations was submitted to Norwegian authorities and production is planned to commence in 2027.
Last month, Aker BP discovered oil in 919 production licences offshore Norway.
