Oil discovery in the Barents Sea (7220/7-5)
The well was drilled by the COSLProspector drilling rig. Photo: Cosl
3/18/2026 Equinor and its partners have made an oil discovery in the "Polynya Tubåen" prospect.
The wildcat well was drilled about 16 kilometres southwest of discovery well 7220/8-1 on the Johan Castberg field and 210 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.
Preliminary calculations indicate the size of the discovery is between 2.3 and 3.8 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent. This corresponds to between 14 and 24 million barrels. The licensees are considering whether it will be possible to tie the discovery back to the Johan Castberg field.
This is the 17th exploration well in production licence 532, which was awarded in the 20th licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) in 2009. The licensees in the production licence are Equinor (operator), Vår Energi and Petoro.
Well 7220/7-5 was drilled by the COSLProspector drilling rig.
Geological information
The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Tubåen Formation.
Well 7220/7-5 encountered a 26-metre gas column and a 26-metre oil column in the Tubåen Formation in reservoir rocks totalling 39 metres, with good to very good reservoir quality. The total thickness in the Tubåen Formation is 125 metres. The gas/oil contact was encountered at 972 metres below sea level, and the oil/water contact was encountered at 998 metres below sea level.
The well was not formation-tested, but extensive volumes of data and samples were collected.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1119 metres below sea level, and was terminated in the Fruholmen Formation from the Upper Triassic.
Water depth at the site is 361 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Updated: 3/18/2026