North Sea wildcat trio on Odfjell Drilling rig’s agenda this month

May 13, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Norwegian oil and gas player Aker BP has secured drilling permits for three exploration wells in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, which will be drilled this month with a semi-submersible rig owned by Odfjell Drilling, an offshore drilling contractor.

Deepsea Stavanger rig; Source: Odfjell Drilling

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has granted Aker BP drilling permits for the wellbores 25/1-14 A, 25/1-14 B, and 25/1-14 C in production license 873B, which was awarded on March 15, 2024, and is valid until December 31, 2029.

Aker BP is the operator of the production license and holds a 47.7% stake, with its partners being Equinor and Orlen Upstream Norway, holding 40% and 12.3% interests, respectively.

The drilling of these wildcat wells, which will be carried out using the Deepsea Stavanger sixth-generation deepwater and harsh environment semi-submersible rig of an enhanced GVA 7500 design, is planned to start in May 2025.

The 2010-built rig is capable of working in water depths of up to 3,000 meters. With a drilling depth capacity of 10,670 meters, the rig has eight mooring lines and can accommodate 157 people.

The semi-submersible drilled two wells for Equinor at the end of 2024, which ended up being dry, but the company had better luck at another prospect in the North Sea, where it made an oil and gas find in an area rich with previous commercial discoveries.

Meanwhile, Aker BP, which recently prolonged its collaboration with SLB and Stimwell Services to step up its oil production game, made progress in the development of the Valhall PWP-Fenris project in the North Sea.