Fresh oil discovery in Barents Sea comes to light

December 4, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Vår Energi, an independent upstream oil and gas company on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), has made a new oil discovery off the coast of Norway, with a semi-submersible rig owned by COSL Drilling Europe.

While confirming an oil discovery in the Goliat North exploration well, located close to the company’s operated Goliat field in the Barents Sea, Vår Energi (operator with 65% interest) explained that the well encountered hydrocarbons in the Realgrunnen and Kobbe formations.

Situated 5 kilometers north of the Goliat field, the discovery’s estimated gross recoverable resources encountered are up to 5 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). According to the company, the Goliat North well forms an integral part of the Goliat Ridge appraisal drilling program.

The firm and its partner, Equinor (35%), will drill four wells in this campaign, with the Zagato side track currently ongoing. Following completion of the appraisal program, the entire potential of Goliat Ridge will be assessed utilizing the extensive data acquisition combined with the newly acquired 3D seismic data. 

Alongside the latest discovery, the Goliat Ridge is estimated to contain gross discovered resources of 39 to 108 mmboe and with additional prospective resources taking the total gross potential to up to 200 mmboe. A tie-back of these discoveries to the nearby FPSO Goliat is being planned.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has also shed more light on this discovery, explaining that the wildcat well 7122/7-8 was drilled in production license 229, 3 kilometers from the Goliat facility and 90 kilometers from Hammerfest.

The preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery is between 0.4 and 0.8 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, which corresponds to between 2.5 and 5 million barrels.

The well 7122/7-8 is the 12th exploration well drilled in production license 229. The well was drilled by the COSL Prospector rig. The well encountered an 8-meter gas/oil column in the Tubåen Formation in the Realgrunnen Subgroup in reservoir rocks totaling 6.5 meters, with good reservoir quality.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in the Goliat Nord prospect in the Lower Jurassic/Upper Triassic and in Middle Triassic reservoir rocks in the Realgrunnen Subgroup and Kobbe Formation, respectively.

While the gas/oil contact was encountered 1,255 meters below sea level, the oil/water contact was not encountered. The well also hit a 6-meter gas/oil column in the Fruholmen Formation in the Realgrunnen Subgroup in reservoir rocks with good reservoir quality.

In the Kobbe Formation, the well encountered a 17-meter oil column in reservoir rocks totaling 12 meters, with good reservoir quality. The oil/water contact was found 2,048 meters below sea level. The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out.

The wildcat well 7122/7-8 was drilled to a vertical depth of 2,197 meters below sea level and was terminated in the Kobbe Formation in the Middle Triassic. The water depth at the site is 409 meters, and the well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.