Statoil gains nod for ‘Bideford Dolphin’ use on North Sea well

Statoil, a Norwegian oil and gas major, has been granted consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway to use the Bideford Dolphin drilling rig to drill a sidetrack well on the Vigdis field, offshore Norway.

The field is located in production licence 089 in the North Sea. According to the safety authority, planned start-up is early February and the activity is estimated to last 8 days.

Vigdis is an oil field in the northern North Sea, located between the Snorre, Statfjord and Gullfaks fields in the Tampen area. Water depth in the area is 280 metres. The field includes several discoveries and has been developed using seven subsea templates and two satellite wells tied back to Snorre A.

Bideford Dolphin is a semi-submersible Aker H-3 drilling rig built in 1975 and operated by Dolphin AS.

The rig received Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) in September 2004.