Oil & Gas

Equinor ASA and its partners have announced a significant discovery of natural gas in the Gudrun field located in the North Sea, on Norway’s continental shelf. This discovery was made through two wildcat wells, 15/3-13 S and 15/3-13 A, drilled under production license 025. Preliminary estimates suggest that the gas discovery could range between 0.1 to 1.2 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent in the intra-Draupne Formation, and between 0.4 to 1.3 million standard cubic meters in the Hugin Formation, as reported by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate.

The Gudrun field, which began production in 2014, has already demonstrated substantial output, producing 1.26 million cubic meters of oil and nearly a million cubic meters of gas last year. Current estimates suggest the field retains 10.6 million cubic meters of oil equivalent reserves, predominantly oil. The recent drilling campaign, executed by Odfjell Drilling Ltd.’s Deepsea Stavanger rig, focused on verifying the presence of petroleum in Late Jurassic and Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks.

During the drilling process, well 15/3-13 S discovered thin oil-bearing sandstone layers but did not find an oil/water contact. Gas was detected in two intervals, indicating further potential in the area. In contrast, the sidetrack well 15/3-13 A confirmed an oil presence in a thicker section of the intra-Draupne Formation and provided insights into the reservoir quality of the Hugin Formation, where poor reservoir properties were noted.

Despite not being formation-tested, both wells gathered extensive data before being permanently plugged and abandoned. Equinor, holding a 36 percent stake through Equinor Energy AS, operates the license alongside partners Var Energi ASA, OMV (Norge) AS, and Repsol Norge AS, showcasing a collaborative effort in exploring Norway’s valuable offshore resources.