No Uncertainty for Equinor with North Sea Heisenberg Prospect

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Coming off a banner year for earnings, energy company Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway) delineated a discovery that could hold tens of millions of barrels of oil equivalent reserves, the Norwegian government confirmed.

Equinor found hydrocarbons at the Heisenberg oil and gas discovery in the North Sea, off the Norwegian coastal city of Bergen. The Norwegian Offshore Directorate estimated the size of the discovery at between 24 million and 56 million barrels of oil equivalent, slightly less than preliminary estimates.

A much smaller find for oil was proved at the nearby Hummer prospect. Equinor has a controlling 51% stake in the prospects, with DNO Norge holding the remaining interest.

While nowhere near the U.S. in terms of oil and gas production, Norway is an important producer for the European economy. The government estimated that crude oil production was about 1.8 million barrels per day on average in February, some 3% better than expected. Gas production, however, was 2.6% below expectations.

Equinor said this week that it had an exceptional year in 2023, with oil and gas production averaging about 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), an increase of 2.1% over the prior year.

"The industrial progress was strong through the year," the company said. "On the Norwegian continental shelf, the Bauge and Breidablikk fields came on stream, the Johan Sverdrup field achieved a higher plateau production, and Equinor increased the ownership share and took over operatorship of the Linnorm discovery."

Of those, Johan Sverdrup is the clear standout for both Norway and Equinor. Named after the nation's fourth prime minister, Johan Sverdrup is the third-largest oil discovery ever made on the Norwegian shelf, accounting for about 30% of the nation's total oil production.

Equinor said it recorded its second-highest result in history last year with adjusted earnings of $36.2 billion. Outside of its territorial waters and Equinor had success in Brazil, the United Kingdom and the U.S. in 2023, while divesting from Azerbaijan and Nigeria.

Perhaps the most outstanding part of its track record, however, was its performance in renewable energy, which outpaced oil and gas production gains by growing 17% year-on-year to 2023.

Its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions posted a slight increase from 2022 levels, but remained 30% below a 2015 benchmark. Equinor has been able to curb its carbon footprint somewhat by using electric power from shore to drive operations at some of its offshore fields.

Total upstream intensity of carbon dioxide was nearly 3% below 2022 levels. Equinor last year bolstered its energy transition strategy by acquiring interest in the Bayou Bend carbon capture and storage project slated for the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The company aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

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