Wintershall Dea has made a new gas, condensate, and oil discovery at the Dvalin North prospect in the Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Sea, according to a statement.

The Dvalin North discovery is estimated to have about 33-70 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmbbloe). The well also encountered hydrocarbons in two shallower secondary targets, with a combined resource estimate of 38-87 mmbbloe. Together, they make a combined resource of about 71-157 mmbbloe in the primary and secondary targets.

The well was drilled by the Deepsea Aberdeen rig and encountered gas, condensate, and oil columns of 33 meters, and 114 meters respectively in the Cretaceous Lysing and Lange Formations. In the primary target in the Garn Formation, the well found a gas column of 85 meters. The license partners are currently assessing the development opportunities for the discovery, which could include a tie back to the Wintershall Dea’s Dvalin field.  The rig will move to assess the 2020 Bergknapp discovery.

Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea Chief Technology Officer and responsible Executive Board Member for Global Exploration, stated that “The discovery is in an area with existing operated as well as non-operated infrastructure. This important find supports our strategy of primarily investing in infrastructure-led exploration activity which will yield synergies with existing fields.”

Meanwhile, Alv Solheim, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea Norge said that “With Maria [field], Dvalin, and now this discovery in Dvalin North, the Haltenbanken area has emerged as a strategic core area for Wintershall Dea in Norway. The next step will be to turn these discoveries into producing fields. This find secures our position in the area and promises to support more activity in the years to come.”