Equinor is refocusing its exploration efforts in the Barents Sea to areas around existing discoveries to the west next year after a string of drilling disappointments in the frontier south-east sector of the Arctic play off Norway, writes Steve Marshall.

The state-controlled operator intends to drill four to six wildcats in the region out of a total of between 20 and 30 exploration wells off Norway in 2020, and 30 to 40 wells worldwide.

Equinor has previously drilled dusters with four operated wells at the Korpfjell and Gjokaasen prospects in the south-east Barents, despite multi-billion barrel potential.

All eyes are now on a final commitment well to be drilled next year at the Stangnestind prospect in Aker BP-operated production licence 858, in which it is a partner, on the prospective Fedynsky High structure.

“So far, we have tested three or four big structures all with negative results and, with Stangnestind, all of the obvious big structures in the south-east Barents will have been tested,” Equinor’s head of exploration Tim Dodson said.

While he would not confirm whether Equinor would exit exploration in the south-eastern play if Stangnestind failed to deliver, he said “there is nothing else there to test”.

When the south-east Barents was opened for exploration in 2013, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate estimated it could hold about 1.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with more than 80% gas and an uncertainty range stretching from 350 million to 3.6 billion boe.

The Barents is believed to hold nearly 16 billion boe, or around two-thirds of Norway’s undiscovered petroleum resources, but major finds are necessary to justify investment in field development in a region with little existing infrastructure.

Dodson said the company would now “focus on areas that work”, mainly around the under-development Johan Castberg field and Wisting development prospect to the west where it aims to drill further wells to prove up more resources that could be tied into future facilities.

It marks a departure by Equinor from a high-risk and high-reward exploration strategy off Norway, with Dodson saying such satellite finds could be economically developed with a low carbon footprint using infrastructure that will already be in place.

Exploration

Equinor to focus on west