Dry well in the North Sea (25/11-30 S)
6/26/2025 Equinor and its partners have drilled a dry well on the «Lit» prospect in the North Sea.
Wildcat well 25/11-30 S was drilled in production licence 169 (link to FactPages), which was awarded in the 13th licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) in 1991. This is the 16th exploration well drilled in this production licence.
The «Lit» prospect is located in the southern part of the Svalin field in the central part of the North Sea, about 9 kilometres from the Balder field.
The well was drilled by the Deepsea Atlantic rig, which is now drilling wildcat well 34/6-8 S in production licence 554, where Equinor is the operator.
Geological information
The well's objective was to prove petroleum in Odin sandstone belonging to the Balder Formation in Palaeocene to Early Eocene.
The well did not encounter sandstone in the Balder Formation as planned. However, the well did encounter the Frigg Formation from the Early Eocene. The sandstone in the Frigg Formation was about three metres thick and had very good reservoir quality. There were no traces of hydrocarbons, and the well is classified as dry.
Well 25/11-30 S was drilled to a vertical depth of about 1808 metres below sea level and was terminated in the Lista Formation in the Late Palaeocene. The total measured depth for the wellbore was 2606 metres (MD).
Water depth at the site is 122 metres. The well has been permanently plugged and abandoned.
Updated: 6/26/2025