Orlen Upstream Norway, together with Equinor, has discovered new natural gas resources on the Norwegian continental shelf. These are expected to contain up to 1 billion cubic meters of gas.
Orlen expects to produce around 1 billion cubic meters of gas from the discovered “Sissel” deposit. The gas is to be transported to Poland via the Baltic Pipe.
The discovery was made in license area PL1137 in the North Sea, around 250 km southwest of Stavanger. According to Orlen, the well was completed within 39 days despite the stormy season. The exploration well with a total depth of 4,359 m confirmed the presence of natural gas with condensate admixtures. The size of the discovery is estimated at 6.3 to 28.3 million barrels of oil equivalent.
According to Orlen, “Sissel” could be connected as a tie-back to the “Utgard” field located five kilometers to the north. The “Utgard” field itself was developed as a tie-back to the “Sleipner” complex, one of the Polish energy company’s most important production sites on the Norwegian continental shelf. This hub includes the “Sleipner Øst”, “Sleipner Vest”, “Gungne” and “Gina Krog” fields.
The “Sleipner” hub accounted for almost 30% of Orlen’s total production in Norway in 2025. Later this year, Orlen Upstream Norway also plans to start production from the “Eirin” field in the same area, which will be developed using the existing infrastructure of “Gina Krog” and “Sleipner
According to the company, the “Sissel” discovery confirms the effectiveness of the exploration strategy, which focuses on resources in the immediate vicinity of existing facilities. “Sissel” can be connected to this infrastructure as a tie-back, which enables a quick start to production and significantly reduces investment costs, Orlen reports. At the same time, this project will help to compensate for the natural decline in production in “Utgard” and extend the service life of the infrastructure there.
Orlen’s CEO Ireneusz Fąfara expects to be able to extract up to 1 billion cubic meters of gas from the “Sissel” reservoir. This will strengthen the asset portfolio in Norway and is a further step towards achieving the Orlen Group’s strategic goals. Norwegian gas plays a decisive role in ensuring stable supplies to customers. “As a company that is central to Poland’s energy security, we remain determined to further expand our cooperation with our Norwegian partners on the basis of our own production on the shelf,” said Fąfara.
