Equinor makes North Sea oil discovery

HELSINKI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor and partners Petoro and TotalEnergies have made an oil and gas discovery near the Oseberg field in the North Sea and plan a fast-track development using existing infrastructure, they said on Wednesday.

• Preliminary estimates put the size of the "Grimsnes" discovery at between 19 million and 50 million barrels of oil equivalent, operator Equinor said

• The discovery was made in the Oseberg area, about 145 kilometres (90 miles) west of Bergen, near Equinor-operated fields Oseberg South and Tune

• Companies in Norway are seeking to extend the life of ageing oil and gas fields by exploring for nearby reserves that can be linked to existing platforms

• "We plan to quickly tie the discovery back to existing subsea facilities and produce the volumes through the Oseberg South platform," Senior Vice President Frode Skarstein said in a statement

• Together with its partners, Equinor aims to make an investment decision as early as next summer and start production within three years

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)