New partner joins North Sea gas discovery ahead of appraisal ops

February 11, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Orlen Upstream Norway, a subsidiary of Poland’s Orlen, has set the wheels in motion to come aboard a gas discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea by buying a stake held by Norway’s oil and gas player Vår Energi.

Orlen has agreed to acquire a 25% interest from Vår Energi in production license PL293 in the North Sea, which covers the unconventional Afrodite gas discovery that has the potential to deliver nearly 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas net to the Polish player. The discovery was made in 2008, but due to difficult high pressure/high temperature environment its development had not been actively pursued until recently.

The Afrodite project is expected to serve as a testing ground for new methods for producing unconventional resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), including Victoria, which is considered to be the largest undeveloped gas discovery in Norway.

The license partners have now decided to drill an appraisal well to assess the feasibility of production using stimulation technologies and to better quantify recoverable reserves. Based on current estimates, recoverable resources amount to approximately 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas, with around 1.9 billion cubic meters attributable to Orlen.

Wiesław Prugar, Orlen’s Management Board Member of Upstream, commented: “Unconventional oil and gas resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf represent a vast but still untapped potential.

“By combining modern production techniques with our existing expertise, we believe we can unlock these resources together with our partners and contribute to a new phase of development in Norway’s upstream sector.”

Afrodite could be developed as tie-back to the nearby Kvitebjørn field, where the Polish firm’s Norwegian subsidiary is also a partner, generating additional synergies. The acquisition of the PL293 license remains subject to standard Norwegian regulatory approvals.

Upon completion, Orlen will hold a 25% interest in the Afrodite field, while Equinor will remain the operator of the license with a 70% stake, with Wellesley Petroleum as the partner holding the remaining 5% stake. The Afrodite transaction is perceived to further strengthen the Polish firm’s unconventional upstream portfolio in Norway.

Following the APA 2025 licensing round, Orlen Upstream Norway received an offer to acquire a 20% stake in the unconventional Victoria gas discovery, whose resources in place are estimated at 140 billion cubic meters.

The company explains that the total discovered unconventional gas resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf awaiting development decisions exceed 800 billion cubic meters.

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Orlen’s involvement in the search for and acquisition of new deposits is consistent with the firm’s 2035 strategy, according to which Norwegian fields are expected to deliver up to 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually by 2030.