Green light for Equinor to use Maersk rig on Martin Linge field

Norwegian oil major Equinor has received safety consent from the country’s offshore safety watchdog to use the Maersk Intrepid jack-up rig on the Martin Linge field offshore Norway.

The Petrolem Safety Authority (PSA) said on Thursday that the Maersk Intrepid would be used for production drilling, completion and intervention on the Martin Linge field.

The Martin Linge is located in production licence 043, which is operated by Equinor. The field is under development.

The field is near the border to the UK sector in the northern part of the North Sea, 42 kilometres west of the Oseberg field. The water depth is 115 metres.

Martin Linge was discovered in 1978 and the plan for development and operations (PDO) was approved in 2012.

The development concept is a fully integrated fixed production platform and a floating, storage and offloading unit (FSO) for oil storage.

It is worth reminding that the Maersk Intrepid rig was last April awarded a contract by Equinor for the drilling of three wells and plugging of one well on the Martin Linge field.

It is also worth mentioning that Maersk Drilling will complete a series of upgrades on the Maersk Intrepid to turn it into the first hybrid, low-emission rig.

These upgrades combine the use of hybrid power with low levels of NOx emissions, adding data intelligence to further reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.