Oil discovery near the Johan Castberg field (7220/5-EC-2 H)
Well 7220/5-EC-2 H was drilled by the Transocean Enabler drilling rig. (Photo: Transocean)
7/23/2026 Equinor and its partners have made an oil discovery in the “Skrugard North Tubåen” prospect in the Barents Sea.
The wildcat well was drilled around 6 kilometres north of the 7220/8-1 discovery well on the Johan Castberg field and 240 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest.
Preliminary estimates indicate the size of the discovery is between 1.2-1.7 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent (o.e.), which corresponds to 7.6-10.5 million barrels of o.e. The licensees are considering whether it may be possible to tie the field 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 in 2009. The licensees in the production licence are Equinor (operator), Vår Energi and Petoro.
Well 7220/5-EC-2 H was drilled by the Transocean Enabler drilling rig.
Geological information
The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in Lower Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Tubåen Formation.
Well 7220/5-EC-2 H encountered an approx. 30-metre oil column in sandstone in the Tubåen Formation in reservoir rocks totalling 41 metres, with good to very good reservoir quality. The total thickness of the Tubåen Formation is 68 metres. The oil/water contact was encountered at 1474 metres below sea level.
The well was not formation-tested, but data and samples have been collected.
The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 1521 metres below sea level and was terminated in the Fruholmen Formation in the Upper Triassic.
Water depth at the site is 361 metres. The well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Updated: 7/23/2026