Aker BP set to drill off Norway with Deepsea Stavanger rig

Aker BP has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea using the Deepsea Stavanger rig.

The well is located in block 6507/5 in production licence 212 in the Norwegian Sea, some five kilometres west of Skarv FPSO.

Aker BP is the operator of the licence with an ownership interest of 30 percent. Other licensees are Statoil Petroleum (30 percent), DEA Norge (25 percent) and PGNiG Upstream Norway (15 percent).

The offshore safety body has now given its consent to Aker BP to drill the exploration well, designated as 6507/5-8, to investigate a prospect named Kvitungen Tumler.

The PSA said on the 1^st February that the drilling of the well was scheduled to begin in February and would last at least 37 days. Water depth at the site is 408 metres.

The well will be drilled by the Deepsea Stavanger, which is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the GVA 7500 type, built in South Korea in 2010. It is owned and operated by Odfjell Drilling.

The PSA issued Deepsea Stavanger with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) in March 2017.

The rig will begin drilling operations after concluding the drilling of development well 6406/3-H-2 H for Wintershall Norge in production licence 475 BS.

It is worth noting that the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has already granted Aker BP a drilling permit for the 6507/5-8 well.