Two North Sea wildcats on 2017-built rig’s drilling list next month

November 20, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Norwegian state-owned energy giant Equinor has secured a drilling permit for two exploration wells in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, which will be drilled using a rig managed by KCA Deutag, operating under the umbrella of Helmerich & Payne (H&P).

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has granted Equinor a drilling permit for the wells 33/12-N-3 GH in production license 037 B/152 and 33/12-N-3 HH in production license 037 B/277. The two-well drilling program is scheduled to start in December 2025.

Located in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, the license 037 B is operated by Equinor with a 51% stake in partnership with Petoro and OMV Norge, which hold the remaining 30% and 19% interests, respectively.

These drilling activities will be carried out with the 2017-built Askeladden rig, which started drilling for Equinor on the Gullfaks field offshore Norway in late March 2018 with the goal of providing more hydrocarbon production from old wells.

The Norwegian energy player and its license partners in Gullfaks and Oseberg area acquired two rigs – named Askepott and Askeladden – while Samsung Heavy Industries and KCA Deutag got contracts for the construction and operation.

Arrangements were also made for these rigs to be owned by the Gullfaks and Oseberg licensees, but operated by a drilling contractor. The initial operation contract was for a period of eight years with the option to extend by 4×3 years.

These two Cat J rigs are tailored to the conditions in the North Sea and specially designed to perform drilling operations on subsea development solutions in addition to conventional surface drilling from fixed platforms.