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Equinor’s US$2.1Bn subsea boost to Europe’s energy security
Norwegian energy major and partners plan to use innovative subsea approach to increase oil and gas production from Fram Sør and Troll area
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia war in 2022, Norway’s oil and gas production has emerged as the linchpin of Europe’s energy security. A report commissioned by Aker BP and published by Wood Mackenzie in 2024 notes that Norway is the continent’s largest hydrocarbon producer with a combined production of about 4M barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. “Norway sends more than 90% of its exports to the European market,” according to the report.
“Oil and gas demand is declining in Europe; however, it is forecast to account for over 50% of the primary energy mix in 2040 and will still play a critical role during the energy transition,” said Wood Mackenzie vice president of consulting, Malcolm Forbes-Cable, who was lead author for the report. “This means Norway’s oil and gas, which has the world’s lowest average carbon emissions intensity, also has a critical role to play.”
New subsea development
When it comes to Europe’s energy security and demand for low-carbon intensity hydrocarbons, a new Nkr21.0Bn (US$2.1Bn) subsea development proposed for the Fram Sør and Troll area on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) checks all the boxes.
The development and operations plan was submitted in June to Norwegian Minister of Energy, Terje Aasland, and is backed by Equinor and its Fram partners, Vår Energi and INPEX Idemitsu Norge.
Equinor executive vice president, projects, drilling and procurement, Geir Tungesvik, said the subsea development would bring new oil and gas resources on stream by connecting new infrastructure to existing facilities, with production from Fram Sør fed through the Troll C platform.
Electrification will play a role in lowering the carbon intensity of the oil and gas production.
“With the host platform Troll C being powered from shore, the production from Fram Sør will have very low emissions,” explains Mr Tungesvik. Emissions are estimated to have a CO2 intensity of about 0.5 kg of CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent (CO2/boe) – a fraction of the industry-leading average CO2/boe of projects on the NCS (8.0 kg).
The field development will break new technological ground on the NCS by using all-electric Christmas trees for the first time.
Several discoveries will be combined in the Fram Sør project. Recoverable volumes are estimated at 116M boe, composed of 75% oil and 25% gas. Production will start at the end of 2029.
Equinor has completed the front-end engineering and design phase for the project, supported by OneSubsea, Subsea 7, TechnipFMC and Aker Solutions.
Additional contracts for pipe deliveries, fibre optic cable and rock installation will be awarded this year. The project will also require rig capacity.
In another NCS project, Equinor Energy was granted a drilling permit by the Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD) for exploratory drilling for wellbore 6506/12-PB-3 H in production licence 094. With a 40.95% interest, Equinor acts as the operator for the project, with Vår Energi (34.30%), Petoro (14.95%) and TotalEnergies EP Norge (9.80%) holding the remaining stakes.
The harsh environment semi-submersible Transocean Encourage will be used for the exploratory work.
Working for Equinor at the Lit prospect, Deepwater Atlantic came up dry drilling a wildcat well. It was the 16th exploratory well drilled under the production licence.
Earlier in June, Transocean reported a two-well option was exercised for the semi-submersible Transocean Spitsbergen. The extension will start in Q1 2026 in direct continuation of the rig’s current programme with Equinor in Norway, contributing US$100M to the drilling contractor’s backlog, excluding additional services.
Transocean’s fleet status report indicates Transocean Spitsbergen has been chartered at a day rate of US$341,000 until February 2026. The new day rate for the semi starting February 2026 and extending to November 2026 is priced at US$381,000.
Overall, NMD reported production for May 2025 was an average daily production of 1,980,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate. These preliminary monthly figures were lower than April, when total production was 2,028,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate.
Total liquids production in December 2025 is expected to rise to 2,171,000 barrels – 7% higher than 2,026,000 barrels produced in December 2024.
As of week 26, Westwood Global Energy Group’s RigLogix data showed the number of contracted floaters, which includes drillships and semi-submersibles, in the North Sea remained unchanged at 19.
In June, Equinor reported the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) Johan Castberg had reached peak capacity — 220,000 b/d — just three months after coming on stream in the Barents Seas “The field will remain on stream for at least 30 years, delivering stable energy to Europe, generating high value for Norway, and ripple effects and jobs in Northern Norway," said Equinor executive vice president, exploration and production, Norway, Kjetil Hove.
Johan Castberg’s first cargo was loaded onto the 150,000-dwt shuttle tanker Bodil Knutsen on 25 May, shipping around 700,000 bbl to Spain. Almost all oil from the NCS is delivered to Europe.
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