Aker BP getting ready to spud North Sea pair with Odfjell rig

Norwegian oil and gas player Aker BP has received consent from the country’s offshore safety regulator to use one of Odfjell Drilling’s semi-submersible rigs for exploration activities in the North Sea off the coast of Norway.

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has granted Aker BP consent to carry out exploration drilling in the North Sea on the Trell Portiko and Trell Sirloin prospects located in production licenses 102 F/G, which were awarded on October 10, 2013, and are valid until March 1, 2025.

Aker BP has an ownership interest of 60% and acts as the operator of the licenses, while its partners, Petoro and PGNiG Upstream Norway, hold the remaining 30% and 10% stakes, respectively. The water depth at the location is around 120 meters. The drilling of the wells 25/5-H-2 H and 25/5-H-2 AH will be undertaken with Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Nordkapp rig.

The 2019-built Deepsea Nordkapp, former Stena Midmax, semi-submersible drilling rig, which Odfjell Drilling bought from Samsung Heavy in April 2018, is a sixth-generation dynamically positioned harsh environment and winterized semi-submersible of a Moss-enhanced CS 60E design.

Odfjell Drilling was one of the three offshore drilling contractors that entered into drilling and wells alliance agreements in January 2023 with Aker BP to undertake drilling activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Thanks to this, the Deepsea Nordkapp rig was contracted to the end of 2024 with an option to extend the contract further.

The two players agreed to prolong the rig’s work in December 2023. The extended term is slated to start on January 1, 2025, in direct continuation of the current firm contract period and run for a fixed duration of two years. This extension came a month after Odfjell Drilling secured another one with Equinor to drill additional wells on the NCS.