Statoil set to drill North Sea wildcat well

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted oil major Statoil a drilling permit for a wildcat well in the North Sea.

The well, designated 34/8-19 S, will be drilled from the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig after it completes drilling operations on the Johan Sverdrup field.

NPD said on Monday that the drilling program for the well relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 120.

Statoil is the operator with an ownership interest of 53 percent while the other licensees are Petoro with a 30 percent stake, ConocoPhillips Skandinavia with nine percent, and Repsol Norge with the remaining eight percent.

NPD added that the area in this license consists of a part of block 34/8 and that the well would be drilled about ten kilometers northeast of the Visund field.

Production license 120 was awarded in 1985 in licensing round 10 A on the Norwegian shelf. This will be the nineteenth exploration well drilled in the license.

As for the rig, the Deepsea Atlantic is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the MODU GVA 7500 type. The semi-sub, operated by Odfjell Drilling, was completed in 2009, registered in Norway, and classified by DNV GL.

Statoil recently received consent from the PSA to use the Deepsea Atlantic for drilling and completion of production wells on the Visund field offshore Norway.

The consent is for the completion of production wells 34/8 D-2H and 34/8 D-4H/AH in the northern part of the field scheduled to begin in early March and last 165 days.