Orlen discovers huge gas deposits. Aphrodite surprises with its size and potential

Orlen Upstream Norway, a subsidiary of the Polish fuel giant, together with international partners has completed exploratory drilling in the Afrodyta field. The results are impressive - recoverable gas and oil resources are more than twice as large as originally expected. According to the latest estimates of the field operator, Equinor, Afrodyta may contain from 77 to even 180 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), of which over 32 million boe will be allocated to Orlen.

Aphrodite – unconventional potential

As Wiesław Prugar, Orlen's vice president for Upstream, emphasizes, Afrodyta is an unconventional deposit that has remained in the shadow for years due to uncertainty as to the profitability of extraction. Only the development of technology in recent years made it possible to return to the project and confirm the much greater potential of the deposit.

Already the preliminary analysis allowed us to more than double the estimates of Aphrodite's extractable resources. This means that the deposit may be larger than Omega Alfa, the largest discovery on the Shelf in recent years, in which Orlen also participated, emphasizes Prugar.

New opportunities for Orlen

Afrodyta is one of the newest assets of Orlen Upstream Norway - the company acquired 25 percent. shares in February 2026. Total recoverable resources were initially estimated to be approximately 50 million boe.

Aphrodite also contains crude oil and other hydrocarbons, which makes this deposit extremely attractive. For comparison, last year's Omega Alfa discovery, also with Orlen's participation, had resources of 115 million boe.

Faster mining and new prospects

Orlen is considering connecting Afrodyta to the existing infrastructure of the Kvitebjørn deposit, which would reduce costs and accelerate the start of production. The company emphasizes that there may be further, undiscovered deposits in the area, and the start of production from Afrodyta will facilitate their development.

Orlen's portfolio also includes other unconventional deposits on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, including Victoria - the largest still undeveloped gas field in Norway.