Aker BP Ready To Drill Norwegian Sea Well

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has given its consent to Aker BP to drill an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea, using the Deepsea Stavanger drilling rig. 

The consent applies for drilling of the exploration well 6608/6-1 – named Vågar – in production license 762 in the Norwegian Sea.

Aker BP is the operator of this license with an ownership interest of 20 percent. Other licensees are Equinor, with a 60 percent, and Petoro, with a 20 percent interest.

Aker BP has already secured a drilling permit for this well from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).

The drilling location is around 100 kilometers north-east of the Skarv field and 170 kilometers south-west of Røstøyan.

According to the safety watchdog’s statement on Thursday, the drilling of the well is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2019 and drilling operations are expected to last 27 days.

This is the first exploration well to be drilled in the license. Water depth at the site is 288 meters.

The well will be drilled by Deepsea Stavanger which is a semi-submersible mobile drilling rig of the GVA 7500 type, built in South Korea in 2010. It is owned and operated by Odfjell Drilling.

The PSA issued Deepsea Stavanger with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) on March 16, 2017.