Vår Energi Makes Oil Discovery Near Arctic Field in Norway
Vår Energi confirmed on Thursday an oil discovery very close to its Goliat field in the Barents Sea, the first operating Arctic oilfield offshore Norway.
Vår Energi, the top independent producer offshore Norway, encountered oil at the Goliat North exploration well, five kilometers (3 miles) north of the Goliat field. The discovery boosts the overall gross discovered resources at the so-called Goliat Ridge and could be tied back to the nearby Goliat floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit.
Vår Energi and its minority partner in the license, Equinor, plan to drill a total of four wells in the Goliat Ridge.
Including the latest discovery, the Goliat Ridge is estimated to contain gross discovered resources of 39 to 108 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and with additional prospective resources taking the total gross potential to up to 200 million boe, Vår Energi said.
Operators offshore Norway are exploring prospects near operational fields to take advantage of the existing infrastructure to raise oil and gas production via tie-backs and tie-ins, which are cheaper than investing in standalone developments.
This year, Equinor has made an oil discovery and a separate gas discovery close to its Johan Castberg oilfield in the Barents Sea and will assess potential tie-ins to the Arctic field which started up earlier this year.
Norway has been boosting its gas production since 2022 when it overtook Russia as Europe’s top gas supplier. Not a member of the EU, but a NATO founding member and key EU and UK ally, Norway looks to continue providing the gas Europe needs.
Major new oilfields, including the Johan Castberg oilfield, Norway’s northernmost and second-largest producing field in the Barents Sea, have boosted crude oil production, too.
Companies operating offshore Norway are raising production of gas and oil, with the support of the Norwegian government, which continues to bet on the oil and gas industry and the massive revenues it raises for the country and its sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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