Updated September 30, 2026.
NCS Exploration Drilling Updates – September 30, 2026👏 Since my last update, one (1) new wildcat started drilling operations and one (1) appraisal well concluded drilling operations. Currently, four (4) exploration wells are being drilled on the NCS👏. Details..⤵️
➡️ Active Wells:
– Well 30/8-7 S: Wildcat well by Equinor in the Northern North Sea – (PL 190). Spud date – Sept 9 by Deepsea Bergen rig. Prospect – Grimsnes. Likely targets: Jurassic (Brent Group -Tarbert / Ness FM). Partners – Petoro AS, TotalEnergies Norge AS.👏
– Well 34/10-56 S: Ongoing wildcat well by Equinor in the Northern North Sea – Gullfaks field area (PL 050 HS). Spud date – Aug 25 by COSL Innovator rig. Prospect – “Rav Beta”. Likely targets: Jurassic (Brent Group / Cook FM) reservoirs. Partner – Petoro AS.👏
– Well 6407/5-3 S: Ongoing wildcat well by Vår Energi in the Halten Terrace area of the Norwegian Sea (PL 1002). Spud date – Aug 10 by COSL Prospector rig. Prospect – Lakris. Likely targets: Lower – Middle Jurassic reservoirs. Partner – Equinor.👏
– Well 35/7-2: Ongoing appraisal well for Afrodite discovery well by Wellesley Petroleum in the Northern North Sea (PL 293). Spud date – July 15 by Deepsea Yantai rig. Targets – Middle Jurassic Brent Group reservoirs. Trap – Horst block. Partner – Equinor.👏
➡️ Drilling Results:
– Well 36/4-2 & 4-2 A: AkerBP and partners have made a gas discovery at Alpehumle prospect in the Måloy Slope area (PL 1153). The wildcat well found a 10-m gas turbidite sand in the Cretaceous Agat FM. Partners – INPEX-Idemitsu Norge, OKEA, Harbour Energy.👏 Read more.. here and here. 👏
– Well 16/1-EA-4 H: AkerBP and partners have concluded a successful appraisal for Verdandi and Lillefix discoveries in the North Sea (PL 167). Paleocene rocks of Heimdal FM were the targets. Partners – Equinor, DNO👏. Read more here.
➡️ Highlights / Comments:
👉 Alpehumle Discovery: The Agat FM play delivers again👏. Like I recently wrote in a post, the result of Alpehumle has implications for Agat play extension and prospectivity to the north of Måloy Slope area👏. Meanwhile, there are two more upcoming wildcats in 2026 targeting the Agat play – that are permitted and soon to drill. **Anabelle prospect is located just north of “Horatio” dry hole, and the result could help to better understand hydrocarbon migration / charge and retention in the north Måloy Slope area. The second wildcat, “Sava” prospect, lies to the east of Cerisa discovery in PL 636. Both Anabelle and Sava will be drilled by COSL Prospector rig after completing the ongoing drilling of “Lakris” wildcat well in the Norwegian Sea.
👉 APA 2026 License Round Applications: Full house!!👏. That’s how to describe the response to the recently concluded APA 2026 Licensing round. Applications were received from all the companies that submitted in 2025, plus A/S Norske Shell is back on the list this year👏, and Kistos Energy Norge is back too👏. The predictability of the yearly exploration acreage supply and the stability of operating environment continues to appeal to explorers on the NCS. 👉YTF Exploration is proud to have supported this year’s APA round with recommended plays and play areas👏. **The APA 2025 license awards announced earlier this year demonstrated the continued success and the impact that YTF Exploration is having on driving exploration strategy and future drilling campaigns on the NCS👏. Several licenses were snapped-up within the YTF Exploration recommended plays and play areas by various explorers👏. Now, the excitement is building towards January 2027. Some of the questions that come to mind as we eagerly await the awards in 2027 are – (i) will the Vøring Basin emergence continue, both TotalEnergies Norge and AkerBP joined the action in 2024 awards and AkerBP returned again last year picking up PL 1308. (ii) will the Barents Sea see a surge this year? Note – Although, I’ve not made any play recommendations in the Barents Sea, but if I had a limited budget to drill in the Barents Sea, I would place my bet on the West Barents Sea area (contact me if you have 15mins and I’d tell you why). (iii) will the Møre Basin revolution continue? Møre Basin is a new addition to my play recommendations this year, even though I’ve been aware of the potential there-in. It’s great that there’s now a new data coverage in the area to support lead and prospectivity mapping. (iv) will the Central Graben / Southern North Sea comeback continue? I’ve spoken and written about the Central Graben comeback before the interest became evident and the license pickups began… and now it’s good to see the data backing up the claim👏.
👉 Permitted and Upcoming: The updated list of permitted and upcoming wildcats in the second half of 2026 now includes – “Sava” prospect by Vår Energi, “Anabelle” prospect by Vår Energi, “Jotun Deep” prospect by Vår Energi, “Schroeder” prospect by Equinor, and “Grane” prospect by Equinor👏. It’s good to see the selected well locations for these prospects. **Exploration well permitting (pitching exploration wells to management and authorities for approval) was one of my duties as a New Ventures geophysicist early-on in my career, so I’m always excited when well locations are selected. A lot goes into selecting well locations including – minimum economic volume, technical reasons / learnings, drilling harzards considerations (usually top of mind for drillers on the team),.. and in some cases, SHE/HSE may also impact the actual well location selection👏
👉 Well Prediction Toolbox: Eight (8) WPT predictions have been made this year – (7 correct predictions resulting in 5 discoveries, 2 dry holes; 1 wrong prediction). 👉Contact me to learn more about the WPT toolbox and how it can be applied in your prospect evaluation process👏. Note – The WPT toolbox uses data at both play & prospect levels, but WPT is only applied (applicable) where there’s enough critical data at the prospect level. **Pre-drill well predictions are not published for obvious reasons, but they are available upon enquiries.
➡️ As always, contact me for more details on any of the above – recommended plays and play areas, prospect critical work / prospect reviews / assurance work, identified lead opportunities, prospect maturation work, potential farm-in candidates / new ventures, and well predictions on upcoming wildcats –
👉Email – consulting@ytfexploration.com
👉Website – https://ytfexploration.com
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Tags: NCS, Exploration, Drilling, North Sea, ILX Exploration.
Featured Image: Deepsea Bergen Rig (Source – Odfjell Drilling). “Deepsea Bergen recently changed name from Deepsea Bollsta after its acquisition by Odfjell Drilling, and is currently drilling the Grimsnes prospect for Equinor”.
