Statoil gains nod to use Maersk jack-up for Gina Krog well

Norwegian oil company Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill an exploration well on the Gina Krog field in the North Sea with the Maersk Integrator jack-up rig. 

Gina Krog is an oil and gas field located 250 kilometers west of Stavanger and 30 kilometers north-west of the Sleipner A platform in the North Sea offshore Norway. The field came on stream in 2017.

Statoil and the partners invested a total of some NOK 31 billion in the development of the Gina Krog field.

Exploration well 15/6-14 S, which Statoil has now received consent to drill, is to be drilled as a sidetrack from existing well 15/6-B-2. Water depth at the site is 116 meters.

According to the PSA, the drilling is estimated to last 17 days in the event of a dry well and 25 days in the event of a discovery, and will start in September.

The well is to be drilled by the Maersk Integrator jack-up drilling rig, which was built and delivered by the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore in 2014. The facility will be operated by Maersk Drilling Norge.

Maersk Integrator was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AOC) by the PSA in June 2015.