The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted oil major Statoil a drilling permit for a wildcat well 7121/8-1 southeast of the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea.
The NPD said that the drilling program for wellbore 7121/8-1 relates to the drilling of a well in production license 849, in a prospect named Blåmann.
Statoil is the operator of the license with an ownership interest of 50 percent. The other licensees are Eni Norge with 30 percent and Petoro with 20 percent.
The area in this license consists of a small part of block 7121/7 and parts of blocks 7121/8, 7121/9 and 7122/7. The location where the well will be drilled is about 25 kilometers southeast of the Snøhvit field which is located in the central part of the Hammerfest Basin.
NPD added that the well would be drilled from the Songa Enabler drilling rig after completing the drilling of production well 7121/4-F-3 H in production license PL 099 on the Snøhvit field, also for Statoil.
The Songa Offshore-owned Cat D rig was also recently cleared by the authorities use on Statoil’s Blåmann prospect.
Production license 849 was awarded on February 5, 2016, in APA 2015. This is the first well to be drilled in the license area.