Norwegian firm Equinor and its partners have made new oil and gas discovery in the Troll/Fram area in the Norwegian North Sea, following the drilling of wells 35/11-26 S and 35/11-26 A.

As per the preliminary estimates, the discovery is estimated to hold between 9 and 35 million barrels of oil equivalent or between 1.5 and 5.5 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalents. It marks Equinor’s ninth successful well in this area since 2019.

Located in production licence 090, the two wells have been drilled using Deepsea Stavanger drilling facility.

Equinor is the operator of the licence with 45% stake. Other licence partners include Vår Energi (25%), Inpex Idemitsu Norge (15%) and Neptune Energy Norge (15%).

Following drilling, the well 35/11-26 S encountered a 7-metre gas column and a 26-metre oil column in the Heather Formation with moderate to ‘good reservoir quality’.

The partners did not encounter oil/water contact.

In a press statement, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said: “The Brent Group and the Cook Formation were water-filled with moderate to good reservoir quality.”

At the well 35/11-26 A, the license partners identified sandstones of moderate to good reservoir quality in the Heather Formation. The reservoir was aquiferous.

The firms also identified oil and gas in shallower intra-Heather sandstones in the two wells.

Equinor exploration & production west senior vice-president Geir Sørtveit said: “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 CO_₂ emissions.”

NPD said the discovery, considering it to be commercially viable, is now being assessed by the licensees for potential tie-in to other recent discoveries in the area, via existing infrastructure.

The drilling rig will now drill wildcat well 30/11-15 in production licence 035 in the Norwegian North Sea.