Equinor Cleared To Drill At Troll Gas Field

Norway’s Equinor plans to embark on a new drilling campaign later this year at the Troll gas field in the North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) reported on July 22.

The PSA said it had granted Equinor permission to use the chartered COSL Promoter semi-submersible to sink eight wells under the third phase of Troll’s development. Drilling is slated to start this September and continue for 144 days.

Troll is one of the largest gas fields in the North Sea, containing 40% of the total gas resources of Norway’s continental shelf. Equinor is partnered at the field with Shell, Total, ConocoPhillips and fellow state-owned Norwegian operator Petoro.

The partners plan to invest kroner 7.8bn ($915mn) in Troll’s third phase, which is aimed at recovering an extra 2.2bn barrels of oil equivalent. The main target is gas resources within the field’s western flank, with first production expected in the first half of 2021.