Aker BP granted drilling permit for North Sea wildcat

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Aker BP a drilling permit for a wildcat well located in the North Sea offshore Norway. 

The well, labelled as 24/9-14 S, will be drilled from the Scarabeo 8 semi-submersible drilling rig after completing drilling of wildcat well 24/9-13 in the central part of the North Sea, for which Aker BP was granted a drilling permit at the beginning of November.

The drilling program for well 24/9-14 S relates to drilling of a wildcat well in production license 869, where Aker BP is operator with an ownership interest of 60 percent. Other licensees are Lundin Norway (20 percent) and Point Resources (20 percent).

The area in this license consists of parts of blocks 24/9, 24/12 and 25/7. The well will be drilled about four kilometers northwest of the Bøyla field in the central part of the North Sea.

Production license 869 was awarded on February 10, 2017 (APA 2016). This is the second exploration well to be drilled in the license itself, but several wildcat wells have been drilled previously within the license area.