Wintershall gains permit to drill Norwegian Sea wildcat

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Wintershall Norge a drilling permit for a wildcat well located offshore Norway. 

The well 6604/5-1 will be drilled from the West Phoenix semi-submersible drilling rig.

The drilling program for well 6604/5-1 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 894 in the Norwegian Sea, the NPD said on Thursday.

Wintershall Norge is the operator of the license with an ownership interest of 40 percent. Other licensees are Statoil (40 percent) and Petoro (20 percent).

The area in this license consists of a part of block 6604/5. The well will be drilled about 120 kilometers southwest of the Aasta Hansteen field.

Production license 894 was awarded on February 10, 2017 (APA 2016) and this is the first well to be drilled within the license.

The West Phoenix is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the Moss Maritim CS50 type, operated by North Atlantic Drilling, a subsidiary of Seadrill.