Fresh oil and gas/condensate find comes to light offshore Norway

December 22, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Equinor, a Norwegian state-owned oil and gas giant, has uncovered a new oil and gas/condensate discovery that enriches its hydrocarbon arsenal off the coast of Norway.

Transocean Encourage rig; Source: Transocean

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has confirmed a new oil/condensate/gas discovery in the Tyrihans Øst prospect, about 250 kilometers southwest of Brønnøysund. The exploration well 6407/1-B-2 H is the first one drilled in production license 1121, which was awarded in February 2021 (APA 2020).

Based on the preliminary calculation, the size of the discovery is between 0.2 and 1.3 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent, which corresponds to between 1–8 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. The well was drilled by the Transocean Encourage rig, which is leaving the location to drill a production well on Åsgard.

While the primary exploration target for the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Garn Formation (Fangst Group) in the Middle Jurassic, the secondary exploration target was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Ile Formation in the Middle Jurassic.

The well 6407/1-B-2-H encountered an approximately six-meter condensate/light oil column in the Garn Formation in sandstone with poor to moderate reservoir properties. The well encountered a 63-meter gas/condensate column in the Ile Formation in sandstone with poor to good reservoir properties.

The well, which was not formation-tested, was drilled to a measured depth of 4,590 meters (4,045 meters vertical depth) below sea level, and was terminated in the Ror Formation in the Middle Jurassic. The water depth at the site is 275 meters.

The well will now be temporarily plugged and abandoned. The licensees will assess the discovery with a view toward a potential production well from the same location, with production over Tyrihans to the Kristin installation.