Wintershall Dea cleared to use ‘Scarabeo 8’ for Norwegian Sea wells

German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea has received consent from the offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), for exploration drilling of two wells in the Norwegian Sea using the Scarabeo 8 rig.

The wells 6604/5-2 S and 6604/6-1 belong to production license 894. The wells have been given the prospect names of Balderbrå and Gullstjerne, respectively.

Wintershall Dea is the operator of the license and holds a 40 percent ownership interest. The remaining partners are Equinor and Petoro, with 40 and 20 percent stakes, respectively.

The first well will be drilled in a water depth of 1,241 metres while the other one will be drilled in 1,161 metres.

The PSA said that the drilling was scheduled to start in December 2019 and would last for at least 44 days for well Balderbrå and at least 51 days for Gullstjerne.

The offshore regulator added that both wells would be drilled using the Scarabeo 8 drilling rig.

Scarabeo 8 is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the Moss CS50 MKII type, operated by Saipem Norge. It was built in Russia and Italy and put into service in 2012.

The rig is classified by DNV GL and registered in the Bahamas. It was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in May 2012.

In related news, Wintershall Dea recently kicked off a long drilling campaign with the West Mira rig, which will operate on at least 12 wells over the next two years.

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