The Equinor-led partnership has made a new oil and gas discovery named Polynya Tubaen near the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea. The discovery is estimated to hold between 14 million and 24 million barrels of oil equivalent that can be recovered.

Location and Development Plan

The discovery well was drilled approximately 13.6 kilometres from the Johan Castberg field. The plan is to develop the find by connecting it to the existing Johan Castberg floating production, storage and offloading vessel, though a specific timeline for this development has not been announced.

Context of Recent Exploration

This discovery follows another recent find in the same area, Drivis Tubaen, made in June 2025 and estimated to hold between 13 million and 20 million barrels of oil equivalent. A company representative stated that these discoveries are encouraging following the opening of a new oil province with Johan Castberg's startup. The partnership plans to drill one to two exploration wells annually in the region to grow the resource base and extend the period of peak production.

Resource Ambitions and Project Status

The ambition is to increase the original Johan Castberg resource estimate of 500 million to 700 million barrels by an additional 200 million to 500 million barrels. The Johan Castberg field itself began production on 31 March 2025, and the partnership has recently started the construction phase for its first tie-in project, named Isflak.

Partnership

The partners in the Johan Castberg license are:

• Operator Equinor: 46.3%
• Vaar Energi: 30%
• Petoro: 23.7%