Equinor, along with partners Petoro and OMV, has made a small oil and gas discovery named Granat in the Norwegian North Sea. The discovery is located in production licence 277, close to the existing Gullfaks field infrastructure.

Exploration and Drilling Details

The discovery was made through the 33/12-N-3 HH exploration probe and a sidetrack well, which were drilled as part of a development drilling campaign for the Gullfaks Satellites. The well was directionally drilled from production licence 050 using the Askeladden rig in a water depth of 137 metres. The main well was plugged and abandoned at a vertical depth of 3275 metres due to an unstable hole. A technical sidetrack, 33/12-3 HHT2, was then drilled to measured and vertical depths of 7846 and 3715 metres respectively, terminating in the Drake formation. Both wells have been permanently plugged and abandoned.

Geological Findings and Resource Estimate

The wells targeted the Middle Jurassic sands. They encountered a total hydrocarbon column of 240 metres, with no oil-water contact identified. The reservoirs comprised:

• 58 metres of Tarbert sands with moderate reservoir quality, containing gas.
• 47 metres of Ness formation sands with moderate-to-good reservoir properties, containing oil and condensate.
• 26 metres of Etive formation sands with poor-to-moderate reservoir properties, also containing oil and condensate.

Preliminary estimates from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate indicate the discovery holds recoverable resources of between 1.3 million and 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Development Considerations

The partners are considering a development plan that involves tying back the Granat discovery to the existing infrastructure in the Gullfaks area.