Norway’s offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given its consent to Wellesley Petroleum to drill an exploration well in the North Sea using the Transocean Arctic drilling rig.
The consent was granted for the exploration well 35/12-6 S located in production license 925 in the North Sea where Wellesley is the operator with a 90% interest. Its partner Concedo holds the remaining 10%. The license was awarded as part of the APA 2017 licensing round.
The objective of the well is to investigate a prospect named Kallåsen. The drilling site is in the north-eastern part of the North Sea, 14 kilometers south-west of the Gjøa field and 18 kilometers north-east of Vega Sør. Water depth at the site is 355 meters.
According to the safety agency, the drilling is scheduled to begin in early May and operations are estimated to last 28 days if the well is dry and up to 71 days if hydrocarbons are found.
The well will be drilled using the Transocean Arctic, which is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the Marosso 56 type, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan in 1987. It is classified by DNV GL and registered in the Marshall Islands.
The rig is operated by Transocean and received Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in July 2004.