Wintershall Norge ASA has received consent to carry out exploration drilling in the northern North Sea with the mobile facility Songa Delta.
The consent applies to drilling of exploration well 35/12-3 S, which is part of production licence 378. The well is located approx. 120 km northwest of Bergen and 24 km northeast of Troll C.
Well 35/12-3 has the following geographical coordinates:
N 61° 05′ 19.995″, E 3° 44′ 56.369″. The water depth at the site is 352 metres.
At the earliest, drilling will start in October 2010. The drilling activity is estimated to last 41 days, but in the event of a discovery, the activity could last 84 days (testing and/or sidetrack).
The Songa Delta (formerly Deepsea Delta) is a third generation mobile drilling facility of the Ocean Ranger type, completed at Rauma Repola (Finland) in 1981.
Songa Delta is owned by Songa Management AS and is operated by Odfjell Drilling AS in Bergen.
The facility received a new Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) due to the change of name in June 2009 .
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Source: Ptil,September 28, 2010,