Minor Gas Condensate Discovery at "Lakris" Prospect by Vår Energi in the Norwegian Sea Basin - YTF Exploration Consulting ....focused on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS)

Updated October 20, 2026.

➡️ A minor gas condensate discovery has been made by Vår Energi and partner (Equinor) in the Halten Terrace area of the Norwegian Sea 👏. The wildcat well (Lakris prospect) found gas condensate in the secondary target (Lower Jurassic Tilje Formation). The primary target (Cretaceous Nise Formation) failed to find any reservoir facies.

👉 Current estimates of recoverable resources is 1.3 to 5.5 million barrels of oil equivalent vs predrill unrisked resources of 252 mmboe carried by Vår Energi.

👉 Congrats to Vår Energi and partner (Equinor).👏

➡️ **Notes / Comments: The result from the well confirms my predrill evaluation of the prospect that – “the primary target, Nise Formation, was not a valid or viable target at this location (also corroborated by my play fairway maps for this area)”. Lakris prospect was featured in the TGS Basin Intelligence report on August 26, 2026 (see here), just a few days before my monthly NCS Exploration report was due to be released. In the TGS report, it was revealed that the primary target for Lakris prospect was the Cretaceous Nise Formation, and was expected to be a play opener. On reading the report, I had 2 options, – (i) include the Cretaceous Nise Formation as part of the usual “likely targets” or (ii) exclude it and stick to my predrill review of the well… I chose the second option, and decided not to include the Nise Formation as part of the likely targets for the well in my report. Check my prospect summary in the August issue of the NCS Exploration Drilling Updates – “the Cretaceous Nise Formation was left out / not listed as one of the targets” (see my August report – here or here ).

👉 Perhaps we will learn more about the well results with time, but the announcement by the NOD (see here) mentioned the occurrence of elevated gas readings in the primary target (Nise Formation). Perhaps, this may have had some impact on the prospect geophysical evaluations and may indicate why the Nise FM was selected as the primary target for testing. A situation like this is not uncommon for anyone who has been in exploration for some time. This is why I continue to emphasise a play based exploration approach for explorers. Unfortunately, very expensive dry holes have been drilled because of “fizz” or “residual” gas that often impact prospect geophysical analyses. Both fluid and lithology prediction methods are great, but they have their limits. There are other methods / techniques to validate seismically derived lithology or fluid volumes, but, oftentimes, those methods are not incorporated into the prospect evaluation process.

👉 Read the NOD announcement – here

👉 Read TGS Basin Intelligence report – here

👉 Read my prospect summary in the August edition of NCS Exploration report – here or here .