Wellesley picks up drilling permit for North Sea wildcat

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

The well 33/9-12 S will be drilled from the Deepsea Bergen semi-submersible drilling rig. The Norwegian oil and gas explorer awarded a contract to the Odfjell Drilling-owned semi-sub in June, following a letter of intent back in April.

The drilling program for the well relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 881 where Wellesley Petroleum is the operator with an ownership interest of 70 percent. The other licensee is Faroe Petroleum Norge with an ownership interest of 30 percent.

The area in production license 881 consists of parts of block 33/9. The well will be drilled approx. one kilometer north of the Statfjord field in the North Sea.

Production license 881 was awarded in APA 2016. This is the first exploration well in this production license.