Norway unveils mostly oil discovery in the North Sea

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Equinor said Thursday it made an oil discovery near the existing Troll field in the North Sea, its seventh find in the area since 2019.

Named Rover Sor, the discovery is estimated to hold between 17 million and 47 million barrels of oil equivalent. Most of the volume was crude oil.

Geir Sortveit, a senior vice president at Equinor, said the new find would be tied into existing infrastructure, which is vital to maintain oil and gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf.

"As this discovery is close to the Troll field and other discoveries we have made in the area, we can already now state that it will be commercial," he said.

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, confirmed the discovery, adding that the find came in 1,100 feet of water.

Equinor said the total size of the seven other discoveries still is uncertain, but it estimates the total reserve potential at some 350 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Norway, along with the United States and a handful of other producers, is supporting energy security in a European economy looking to avoid Russian oil and natural gas because of the war in Ukraine.

Data show crude oil production in December averaged 1.7 million barrels per day, which was about 10% below expectations. Natural gas production of about 12 billion cubic feet per day on average was almost 2% better than expected, however.

Equinor made its first commercial natural gas discovery in its territorial waters for the year in mid-January. The petroleum directorate estimates that natural gas accounts for more than half of all the fossil fuels pulled from Norwegian waters.