Aker BP gains drilling permits for North Sea wells

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Aker BP drilling permits for two wells in the North Sea, offshore Norway.

NPD said that the wells 25/2-19 S and 25/2-19 A would be drilled using the Maersk Interceptor drilling rig in the North Sea production license 442.

The drilling program for well 25/2-19 S relates to the drilling of an appraisal well while the program for well 25/2-19 A is for the drilling of a wildcat well.

Aker BP is the operator of the license with an ownership interest of 90.26 percent. The only other licensee is Lotos Exploration and Production Norge AS with a 9.74 percent interest.

The area in the license consists of a part of block 25/2 and a part of block 25/3. Both wells will be drilled about 15 kilometers north of the Frøy field and about 140 kilometers from the coast.

Production license 442 was awarded on June 15, 2007, in APA 2006 on the Norwegian shelf to Norsk Hydro Petroleum AS. Det norske oljeselskap became the operator on June 3 of last year. Aker BP took over on September 30, 2016, as the new operator created through the merger of BP and Det norske.

The two wells will be the seventh and eight wells to be drilled in the license.

Maersk Interceptor, the rig involved, was delivered by the Keppel Shipyard of Singapore in 2014, and is owned by Maersk and operated by Maersk Drilling Norge.

Offshore Energy Today Staff