The well was drilled about 5 kilometres southwest of the discovery well, 7220/8-1, on the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea and 210 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.

The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Early Jurassic in the Stø Formation.

Well 7220/8-3 encountered a gas and oil column, 3 and 43 metres respectively, in 77-metre thick sandstone in the upper part of the Stø Formation.

The reservoir quality was very good. The gas/oil contact was encountered at 907 metres below sea level, and the oil/water contact was encountered at 950 metres below sea level.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 0.8 and 1.6 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent. The licensees will assess the discovery with a view towards potential tie-in to the Johan Castberg field.

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data collection and sampling have been carried out.

This is the 13th exploration well in production licence 532. The licence was awarded in the 20th licensing round in 2009.

The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1309 metres below sea level, and was terminated in the Fruholmen Formation from the Late Triassic. Water depth at the site is 352 metres.

The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 7220/8-3 S was drilled by the Transocean Enabler drilling facility, which will now drill development wells on the Goliat field in PL 229 in the Barents Sea, where Vår Energi ASA is the operator.