Norwegian oil major Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway to use the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig to drill two production wells at Gullfaks Sør, offshore Norway.
Statoil is the operator for Gullfaks Sør, located in the Tampen area in the northern part of the North Sea, south of the Gullfaks field.
Gullfaks Sør has been developed using subsea well templates tied back to Gullfaks A and C by underwater pipelines. Production began in 1998.
According to the PSA, Statoil will drill two production wells from a new well template on the Rimfaksdalen gas discovery. In addition, a well is to be drilled next to the well template to investigate if there is shallow gas nearby. This well will be plugged when the result is in. Water depth at the site is 137 metres.
Deepsea Atlantic is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the MODU GVA 7500 type, operated by Odfjell Drilling AS. The rig was completed in 2009, is registered in Norway and is classified by DNV GL.
Deepsea Atlantic was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in July 2009.
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