Orlen has announced the discovery of new natural gas resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the North Sea. The find was made through cooperation between Orlen Upstream Norway and Equinor. The field, named Sissel, is expected to enable the production of roughly 1 billion cubic metres of gas which, according to the company’s plans, could ultimately be delivered to Poland via the Baltic Pipe system.
Sissel was discovered within licence area PL1137 in the central North Sea, around 250 kilometres southwest of Stavanger. An exploration well, drilled to a total depth of 4,359 metres, confirmed the presence of natural gas with condensate. Preliminary estimates put the size of the discovery at about 6.3 to 28.3 million barrels of oil equivalent. Orlen said the drilling campaign began in December 2025 and was completed within 39 days despite difficult weather conditions.
A key point in Orlen’s messaging is that the Sissel resources could be developed relatively quickly and at lower cost because the field is close to existing infrastructure. The company notes that Sissel can be connected by a subsea pipeline to the Utgard field located about five kilometres to the north. Utgard, in turn, is tied into the Sleipner complex, originally built to exploit Sleipner Øst and Sleipner Vest, which serves as a major production hub in this part of the Norwegian shelf. Orlen highlights that this hub also includes fields such as Gungne and Gina Krog, and that in 2025 production in the Sleipner area accounted for roughly 30 percent of Orlen’s total output in Norway. The company also plans to bring another field in that area, Eirin, on stream this year.
According to Orlen’s upstream management, the ability to tie Sissel into operating installations should accelerate its commercialisation and reduce investment outlays. The company adds that Sissel could help offset the natural decline in production from Utgard, thereby extending the useful life of the infrastructure already in place.
In Orlen’s assessment, the Norwegian direction remains one of the pillars of stable gas supply for customers in Poland and the region. Orlen CEO Ireneusz Fąfara argued that Norwegian gas is crucial for supply security and pointed to the beginning of 2026, when the company recorded record daily demand from the power sector, businesses and households of about 100 million cubic metres, prompting Orlen to increase imports, including via the Baltic Pipe.
The PL1137 licence is owned equally by Orlen Upstream Norway and Equinor, with Equinor serving as the operator. Orlen said it obtained its stake in the licence through the 2024 acquisition of KUFPEC Norway. At the same time, the company stressed that a discovery does not automatically mean immediate production: any decision to develop Sissel will depend on a joint agreement between the partners and the results of economic, technical and operational analyses.
