Fresh petroleum discovery sees light of day in North Sea

January 28, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Norway’s oil and gas company OKEA has made a petroleum discovery in the North Sea off the coast of Norway.

According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD), OKEA and its partners have discovered petroleum in the Knockando Fensfjord prospect in production licence 055, thanks to the 31/4-A-15 D development well, which was drilled to search for oil from the Brage installation.

The production licence 055 was awarded in the fourth licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in 1978. The licensees in the production licence are OKEA (operator), Lime Petroleum, DNO, Petrolia NOCO, and M Vest Energy. Brage was proven in 1980, and the Storting approved the plan for development and operation (PDO) in 1990.

The 31/4-A-15 D well in the North Sea was drilled into the reservoir section in the lower Fensfjord Formation of Late Jurassic age on its way to the Talisker production target in the Brent Group of Middle Jurassic age. A 38.5-meter column of hydrocarbons was proven in an interval of multiple sandstone layers with moderate to good reservoir quality.

The petroleum/water contact was not encountered. The wellbore was drilled to respective measured and vertical depths of 10,009 meters and 2,309 meters below sea level, and was terminated in the Oseberg Formation in the Middle Jurassic. Data was collected in the discovery interval.

The preliminary estimates indicate additional resources for Brage of between 0.5 and 1.5 million standard cubic meters of recoverable oil equivalent if the discovery is oil. If it is gas, the preliminary volume estimate is between 0.4 and 0.9 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent.

The wellbore 31/4-A-15 D started producing from the 31/4-A-1 B (Talisker) discovery on January 11, 2026. The licensees are now considering opportunities for developing Knockando Fensfjord.

OKEA strikes oil at North Sea license

Exploration & Production

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate explains that several discoveries have been made in the Brage area in recent years, including Talisker Cook/Statfjord (31/4-A-15 B) and Prince (31/4-A-23 G), which were proven in 2025.