Equinor Approves $412 Million TWIN Project at Troll Field with Shell, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips

Equinor and four joint venture partners have approved a $412 million subsea development at Norway's Troll gas field to add an estimated 11 billion standard cubic metres of gas to the field's total output. The project, named TWIN for Troll West Increased Gas Recovery North, is the third stage of the broader Troll Phase 3 programme. First production is targeted for 2028, per an Equinor press release dated June 19, 2026.

What the TWIN Development Involves

The TWIN project consists of two new wells drilled through a shared subsea template and tied back via a dedicated pipeline to existing Troll infrastructure. The scope also extends umbilical lines and a monoethylene glycol injection line to support the new wells. Gunnar Nakken, Equinor's senior vice president for projects and subsea Norway, said the partnership has "an ambition to start production as early as 2028" by simplifying design and reusing existing equipment. A second step within Troll Phase 3 is already scheduled to come online during 2026, sustaining plateau production from Troll A and the Kollsnes processing terminal through 2030.

The JV Partners: Corporate Parents Behind the Norwegian Entities

The Troll licence is structured through Norwegian operating companies, each a subsidiary of a global energy group. Equinor Energy AS, the operator at 30.55 percent, is owned 67 percent by the Norwegian government and the remainder by public shareholders. Petoro AS holds 55.93 percent on behalf of Norway's State Direct Financial Interest, the government vehicle that captures the sovereign share of Norwegian continental shelf production. A/S Norske Shell, at 8.19 percent, is the Norwegian subsidiary of Shell plc; TotalEnergies EP Norge AS, at 3.69 percent, reports to TotalEnergies SE.

ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS, the smallest partner at 1.64 percent, is a wholly owned unit of ConocoPhillips. Standard wire coverage refers to "Equinor and partners" without naming which corporate parents absorb the $412 million commitment. Shell's 8.19 percent stake translates to roughly $33.7 million of the total investment; TotalEnergies contributes approximately $15.2 million; and ConocoPhillips approximately $6.7 million. These are capital outlays proportional to working interests, not optional participation amounts.

Calculating the Value of 11 Billion Cubic Metres

Gas on the Norwegian continental shelf is measured in standard cubic metres. Converting 11 billion scm using the standard energy density of 10.55 kilowatt-hours per cubic metre yields approximately 116 terawatt-hours of total output. At the TTF front-month price of EUR 41.34 per megawatt-hour, recorded on June 18, 2026, per cbonds data, that volume carries a gross market value of approximately EUR 4.8 billion over the project's producing life. Equinor's 30.55 percent working interest represents roughly EUR 1.5 billion of that gross value at current prices.

TTF has declined in recent weeks alongside market expectations of resumed Hormuz flows, which reduce the European LNG import premium. The June 18 price of EUR 41.34 per megawatt-hour sits well above the circa EUR 20 per megawatt-hour breakeven typical for mature Norwegian shelf tiebacks, where major shared infrastructure is already fully depreciated. TWIN incremental volumes carry low marginal cost precisely because Troll A, Kollsnes, and the existing export pipelines are already in service.

Troll's Role in European Gas Security

The Troll field holds approximately 40 percent of total gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf, per Equinor's own production documentation. Gas from Troll alone meets roughly 10 percent of Europe's total gas demand. Norway overtook Russia as Europe's largest pipeline gas supplier after the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war, and continued capital commitment at Troll sustains that position through the next decade. The TWIN project adds a third development wave to ensure Troll production remains above 30 billion cubic metres per year into the early 2030s.