Equinor announces discoveries in Troll and Sleipner areas

Norway

STAVANGER, March 10, 2026 – Equinor has made commercial discoveries of oil in the Troll area and gas and condensate in the Sleipner area, the company announced on Monday.

The Byrding C oil find was made in exploration well 35/11-32 S, drilled by the COSL Innovator semi-submersible rig. It is located in production licence 090 HS, 5 kilometres northeast of the Fram field in the Troll area, and is estimated to hold up to 8 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Troll has yielded 19 discoveries from 26 wells since 2018, representing a 70% success rate. Lill H. Brusdal, Equinor’s senior vice-president for exploration and production in Troll, indicated the company is discussing with licence partner INPEX Idemitsu Norge whether to proceed with development through new infrastructure or existing facilities in the area.

The Frida Kahlo gas and condensate discovery was drilled from the Sleipner B platform northwest of the Sleipner Vest in production licence 046 and is estimated to contain up to 9 million barrels of oil equivalent. Equinor said the discovery could be brought on stream as early as April 2026.

In Sleipner, Equinor’s three most recent previous discoveries – Lofn, Langemann and Sissel – are estimated to hold an aggregate of up to 140 million barrels of oil equivalent. They will be developed as subsea tie-backs to existing infrastructure in the next two or three years for gas exports to Europe.

“These discoveries are the result of a targeted exploration effort in the Sleipner area. [They] give grounds for optimism as we plan to drill three additional exploration wells and two new production wells in the area this year,” said Cecilie Rønning, senior vice-president for exploration and production in Sleipner.

Equinor is the operator of the 090 HS licence with a 75% interest, with INPEX Idemitsu Norge holding 25%. Equinor also operates the 046 licence with a 58.3% interest, alongside partners Orlen Upstream Norway (24.4%) and Vår Energi (17.2%).