Equinor eyes final call on Norway’s largest undeveloped oil discovery by 2027-end

June 25, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor has submitted a proposed program for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of a potential field development in the Barents Sea for public consultation.

Equinor and its partners’ proposal for an environmental impact assessment program has been submitted for a 16-week public consultation as part of the continued maturation of the Wisting field development project, which is still at an early stage; thus, further progress will depend on additional improvements to achieve a profitable and viable project.

Wisting is described as the largest oil discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) yet to be developed, with estimated recoverable volumes of just under 500 million barrels of oil equivalent. The partnership has selected a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the project.

The project will also assess the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to curb CO2 emissions from production, given the size of the power facility and the fact that the installation is being developed as a newbuild. Further maturation work and sub-studies are now underway, according to the Norwegian giant.

Equinor elaborates that any continuation of a CCS solution will depend on the necessary technological and regulatory conditions being in place within acceptable cost and time frames, both for the power turbine and for a possible CCS facility.

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While the partnership plans to decide on the final concept selection and possible continuation towards the end of 2026, the solutions need to meet requirements for safe and efficient operations in the Barents Sea, with a final investment decision (FID) planned for the end of 2027.

Trond Bokn, Equinor’s Senior Vice President for Project Development, commented: “We have made significant improvements to Wisting since the postponement in 2022, but considerable work remains before we can determine whether there is a basis for a final investment decision.

“Power from shore has been thoroughly assessed but was ruled out due to technical complexity and high costs. We are now continuing our work on power generation based on an energy-efficient gas turbine solution.”

Wisting has the potential to generate substantial revenues for Norwegian society if developed, creating significant ripple effects in the country’s supplier industry, both during the development phase and throughout operations.

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The largest and most lasting ripple effects from the project are anticipated to come from around 30 years of operations, as nearly all activity related to operations will take place in Norway and contribute to value creation and jobs in industry nationally and regionally for decades to come.

While the drilling and wells, together with the subsea development, account for around half of the total investment in the Wisting development, the majority of the activity will generate value creation in the Norwegian industry, with local suppliers given an exclusive opportunity to demonstrate competitiveness in the engineering, procurement, and construction of the modules for the production vessel.

In addition, procurement activity is set to create significant opportunities for many equipment suppliers in Norway, but the hull itself cannot be built at Norwegian yards due to size and the necessary infrastructure.

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The licensees in Wisting are Equinor (42,5%), Aker BP (27,5%), Petoro (20%), and Inpex Idemitsu Norge (10%), after the first two players complete their previously disclosed transactions, pending government approval.

Located around 310 kilometers north of Hammerfest in a water depth between 390 and 418 meters, Wisting in PL 537 was discovered in 2013 in the Hoop area of the Barents Sea.