Equinor set to drill North Sea well

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Equinor a drilling permit for well 25/6-6 S located in the North Sea offshore Norway. 

Transocean Spitsbergen; Photo by Kenneth Engelsvold; Source Equinor

The well will be drilled from the Transocean Spitsbergen drilling rig after completing the drilling of wildcat well 36/1-3 in the northern part of the North Sea.

Equinor has already secured a safety consent to use the Transocean Spitsbergen semi-submersible rig for this well.

The drilling program for well 25/6-6 S relates to the drilling of wildcat wells in production license 870, where Equinor is the operator with an ownership interest of 80 percent. Other licensee is Faroe Petroleum Norge (20 percent).

The area in this license consists of a part of blocks 25/6, 25/9 and 26/7. The well will be drilled about 18 kilometers southeast of the Skirne field in the central part of the North Sea.

Production license 870 was awarded on February 10, 2017 (APA 2016). This is the first exploration well to be drilled in the current license, but two wildcat wells have previously been drilled within the license area.