Spirit Energy picks up drilling permit for North Sea wildcat

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Spirit Energy Norge a drilling permit for a wildcat well in the North Sea offshore Norway. 

The wellbore 35/9-14 will be drilled from the Songa Enabler drilling rig after completing the drilling of wildcat well 35/9-13 in production license 682, the NPD said on Wednesday.

The drilling program for wellbore 35/9-14 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 682.

Spirit Energy is the operator with an ownership interest of 30 per cent. Other licensees are Capricorn Norge (30 per cent), Petoro (20 per cent) and Wellesley Petroleum (20 per cent). The area in this license consists of the central and northwestern parts of block 35/9. The well will be drilled about 6 kilometers northwest of the Gjøa field.

Production license 682 was awarded on February 8, 2013, in APA 2012 on the Norwegian shelf. This is the second well to be drilled within the license. The well 35/9-13 was terminated for technical reasons and 35/9-14 is a replacement of this. The 35/9-13 well was previously operated by Bayerngas Norge.

To remind, Spirit Energy was formed through the combination of Centrica’s E&P business with Bayerngas Norge. The new player started trading last December.