Equinor Raises Afrodite Estimate to Up to 180 Million Boe

Equinor has raised its estimate of recoverable gas and condensate at Norway’s Afrodite discovery to as much as 180 million barrels of oil equivalent, potentially supporting a North Sea tie-back.

The preliminary estimate ranges from 77 million to 180 million boe, equivalent to 12 million to 29 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent. The range reflects recoverable resources after appraisal drilling, and Equinor plans to analyze the results further.

The new estimate’s mean is 128 million boe, compared with an earlier estimate of about 50 million boe. The more-than-twofold increase applies to the mean, not the 77 million boe low end.

Afrodite was discovered in 2008, after the license was awarded in 2003. Appraisal well 35/7-2 confirmed gas and condensate about 35 kilometers northeast of the Kvitebjørn field. The Deepsea Yantai rig drilled the well.

Equinor operates the license and holds a 60% interest. ORLEN Upstream Norway holds 25%, DNO Norge holds 10% and Wellesley Petroleum holds 5%. Wellesley operated the appraisal well.

The reservoir has low permeability, meaning gas moves slowly through the rock and is difficult to recover. Equinor considers the discovery commercially viable and is assessing a possible subsea development.

“To find such large gas volumes in a mature area on the Norwegian continental shelf is very good,” said Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway.

A possible subsea connection would link Afrodite to the Kvitebjørn platform. From there, gas could pass through existing infrastructure to the Kollsnes processing plant in Øygarden and continue to European markets.

The license partners have not announced a development decision, production start date or expected output rate. Equinor’s next stated step is further analysis of the appraisal results.