Equinor (Equinor), along with its partners Petoro and TotalEnergies, has made an oil and gas discovery in the exploratory well 30/8-7 S Grimsnes near the Åsbrisk field in the North Sea off Norway. Initial estimates have placed the recoverable volume of this discovery between 19 million and 50 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).
Exploratory Well Details
The Grimsnes well was drilled using the Deepsea Bergen rig under production license PL 190. This well is located at a water depth of 96 meters and approximately 15 kilometers southwest of the Åsbrisk Sør platform. Additionally, this well is situated 145 kilometers west of Bergen.
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Rapid Development Plans
The partners have planned a rapid and cost-effective development for Grimsnes that will connect the field to the Stjerne subsea facilities and produce through the Åsbrisk Sør platform. Frode Skarstein, Vice President of Exploration and Production West at Equinor, stated: "This discovery reflects the high attractiveness of the area around the Åsbrisk field. We intend to quickly connect this discovery to the existing subsea facilities and commence production through the Åsbrisk Sør platform."
Equinor is likely to use two or three wells in a standard four-well pattern for the development of this field. The company plans to procure subsea production equipment early next year, before the project is approved. Since the equipment is standardized, it can be used elsewhere if the project does not progress.
Equinor's Strategy for Developing New Discoveries
This discovery is part of Equinor's efforts to develop smaller discoveries near existing infrastructure more quickly and cheaply. Equinor aims to reduce the cost and time between discovery and production through simpler processes and standardization. Gunnar Nakken, Vice President of Projects and Subsea at Equinor for the Norwegian continental shelf, said: "To capitalize on these discoveries, we need to fundamentally change how we plan and develop subsea projects."
Equinor expects investment for Grimsnes to take place soon, by next summer at the latest, and production from this field to commence within three years. Norway supplies about 20% of Europe's oil and 30% of its gas, but production from its mature fields is declining. Equinor aims to drill 200 exploratory wells near fields by 2035 and complete about 75 subsea developments, with the goal of maintaining production on the Norwegian continental shelf at 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
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