Vår Energi, jointly owned by Eni (69.85 per cent) and HitecVision (30.15 per cent), has announced a new oil discovery in production licence PL532 in the Barents Sea (located off the coasts of Norway and Russia) by drilling the exploration well 7220/7-4 on the Isflak exploration prospect.

Vår Energi AS holds a 30 per cent stake in the PL532 licence, while Equinor Energy (Operator) holds 50 per cent and Petoro AS holds 20 per cent.

Exploration well 7220/7-4 is located approximately 10 kilometres southwest of the Skrugard discovery and 230 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest in a water depth of 349 metres.

It was drilled with the semisubmersible drilling rig Transocean Enabler to a vertical depth of 2,080 metres below sea level and reached TD in the Jurassic Tubåen Formation.

The main bore proved an oil column of over 100 metres, primarily in good quality Jurassic sequences of Stø Formation and Nordmela Formation sandstones.

Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 65 and 100 Mboe hydrocarbons in place. The new discovery will be linked to the Johan Castberg development hub.

PL 532 was awarded in the 20th Licencing Round in 2009, containing the oil and gas discoveries of Skrugard, Havis and Drivis that will be connected to the Johan Castberg FPSO.