Green light for Equinor to undertake ops in North Sea with COSL Drilling’s rig

Norwegian offshore safety regulator has given Equinor its consent to use a COSL Drilling-owned semi-submersible rig for production drilling at a field in the North Sea off Norway.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) disclosed earlier this week that it had given Equinor consent to use the COSL Promoter rig on the Statfjord Øst field. The consent covers plugging and abandonment (P&A) activities and the drilling of production wells on this field.

Located in the Tampen area in the North Sea, seven kilometres northeast of the Statfjord field, the Statfjord Øst field lies in a water depth of 150-190 metres. It was discovered in 1976, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 1990.

The field has been developed with two subsea production templates and one water injection template tied back to the Statfjord C platform. In addition, two production wells have been drilled from Statfjord C. The production from the field started in 1994.

The Statfjord field is located in the Tampen area in the northern part of the North Sea on the border between the Norwegian and British sectors. The Norwegian share of the field is 85.47 per cent and the water depth at the site is 150 metres. Discovered in 1974, the Statfjord field has been developed with three production platforms: Statfjord A, Statfjord B, and Statfjord C. This last platform came into production in 1985.

According to Equinor, Statfjord Nord, Statfjord Øst and Sygna are three satellite fields tied back to the Statfjord C platform and the Statfjord Øst field is equally split between production licences 037 in block 33/9 – Statfjord area – and 089 in block 34/7 (Snorre area).

The 2012- built COSL Promoter is a semi-submersible drilling rig designed to operate in water depths up to 750 metres.