New discovery near the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea
Shortly after the Snøfonn North discovery near the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, Equinor has made another oil and gas discovery in Skavl Stø, exploration well 7220/8-3.
The well was drilled five kilometres south-southeast of discovery well 7220/8-1 on the Johan Castberg field, 210 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.
Equinor is the operator of production licence 532. The size of the discovery is preliminarily estimated at between 5-10 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. Together with the other licensees, Vår Energi and Petoro, Equinor will consider tying the discovery into the Johan Castberg field.
“The drilling operation was safely and efficiently performed. The new discovery and information will be viewed in the light of other discoveries in the area, and together with our partners we will consider further development of the area,” says Kristin Westvik, Equinor’s senior vice president for exploration and production north.
The news about the Snøfonn North oil discovery was published on 25 May this year, about one year after the Isflak discovery in the same area.
Skavl Stø will be further matured together with Snøfonn North and the previous discoveries Skavl (2014) and Isflak (2021).
The well was drilled by Transocean Enabler.
Skavl Stø is the thirteenth exploration well in the Castberg licence. The production licence was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009.
Facts about Johan Castberg
- The Johan Castberg field is located in the Barents Sea, approx. 100 kilometres north of the Snøhvit field and 240 kilometres from Melkøya.
- The water depth is 360-390 metres.
- Johan Castberg consists of the Skrugard, Havis and Drivis discoveries.
- Recoverable volumes are estimated at between 450 and 650 million barrels of oil equivalent.
- The Johan Castberg production vessel and subsea facility are designed for producing 190 000 barrels per day and for a productive life of 30 years.
- The field development concept includes a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and an extensive subsea development with a total of 30 wells distributed on 10 templates and 2 satellite structures.
- Johan Castberg will have a supply and helicopter base in Hammerfest and an operations organisation in Harstad.
- The Johan Castberg FPSO arrived in Norway on 8 April. It is currently anchored at Aker Solutions’ quay on Stord, where the turret and processing modules will be installed during the spring and summer. They will then be hooked up, followed by commissioning and testing.
