Third time not the charm for Equinor in North Sea

November 11, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Norway’s state-owned oil and gas giant Equinor and its partners have drilled a dry well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea with one of COSL Drilling Europe’s semi-submersible rigs.

As reported by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD), wildcat well 34/6-9 S (Avbitertang) was drilled in production licence 554, 35 kilometers northeast of the Snorre field and 125 kilometers west of Florø.

Awarded in 2010 as part of APA 2009, the license is valid until 2040 thanks to several extensions. The partners are Equinor as the operator and 40% interest owner, and Aker BP and Vår Energi, holding a 30% stake each.

This was the ninth wildcat well drilled within the production license’s acreage and the third exploration well drilled in this area this year. Like its predecessors, Narvi Nord and Garantiana NV, this was also dry.

Well 34/6-9 S was drilled using the COSL Innovator rig with the objective to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Cook Formation. The Cook Formation was encountered in a total of about 106 meters, 39 of which had moderate to good reservoir quality.

The well was drilled to respective measured and vertical depths of 4,042 and 4,001 meters below sea level, and was terminated in the Burton Formation in the Lower Jurassic. It has now been permanently plugged and abandoned.

This follows another dry well encountered by Aker BP last week in the North Sea. The company drilled the well 30/11-16 S (Natrudstilen) in production license 873 using the Deepsea Stavanger rig, but to no avail.