Equinor ASA has been awarded 35 new production licenses across three major basins on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, spanning 20 licenses in the North Sea, 10 in the Norwegian Sea and 5 in the Barents Sea. The company will assume operatorship for 12 of these licenses, increasing its operated acreage by 8% to nearly 3,200 square kilometers. Successful bidders reported commitments to drill 18 exploration wells over the next four years, with an estimated total investment of NOK 12 billion. EQNR’s strengthened portfolio now includes seven frontier-block awards in the Barents Sea, where it will collaborate with national and international partners to appraise promising Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs potentially holding 500–700 million barrels of recoverable resources.

Equinor aims to complete and submit the final development plan for the Wisting undersea oil discovery—currently the world’s northernmost field—by year-end following a 30% reduction in projected capital expenditure. The project’s break-even cost has been lowered from USD 45 to USD 31 per barrel of oil equivalent through optimized seabed processing, a simplified subsea template and supplier renegotiations. Wisting holds an estimated 600 million barrels of recoverable oil in place; first production is now targeted for late 2026. Senior management forecasts an internal rate of return of 15% at a long-term oil price of USD 60, providing a strategic growth pillar for EQNR’s Arctic portfolio.