Marathon Petroleum Gets Consent for Drilling Near Balder Field Offshore Norway

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Marathon Petroleum Norge AS a drilling permit for wellbore 25/10-11, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations.

Wellbore 25/10-11 will be drilled from the Transocean Winner drilling facility at position 59° 12’ 48.06” north and 02° 07’ 42.30” east after completion of the drilling of wildcat well 24/9-10 S and appraisal well 24/9-10 A for Marathon Petroleum Norge AS in production licence 340 BS.

The drilling program for well 25/10-11 concerns the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 505. Marathon is the operator with an ownership interest of 50 per cent. The other licensees are Lundin Norway AS with 30 per cent and VNG Norway AS with 20 per cent. The area in this licence consists of parts of the blocks 25/7 and 25/10. The well will be drilled about 10 kilometres west of the Balder field in the central part of the North Sea.

Production licence 505 was awarded on 23 January 2009 (APA 2008). This is the first well to be drilled in the licence.

The permit is contingent upon the operator having secured all other permits and consents required by other authorities before the drilling starts.

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Source:NPD, February  16, 2011;