Norway’s Statoil has received consent from the offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), to drill an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea.
The offshore watchdog said on Wednesday that the well is to be drilled in a prospect named Carmen in block 6507/8 at Haltenbanken. The site is 222 kilometers west of Brønnøysund in Nordland county and 10 kilometers north-east of Heidrun.
The agency also said that a pilot well will be drilled first, down to 800 meters, to investigate if there is shallow gas in the area. Water depth at the site is 358 meters. The drilling is estimated to last for 18 days, and will begin in mid-June.
The well is to be drilled by Deepsea Bergen, which is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the Aker H-3.2 type, built at Aker Verdal in 1983. It is owned and operated by Odfjell Drilling. It is classified by DNV GL and registered in Norway.
Deepsea Bergen was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in December 2001.
In addition to current contract, Statoil recently awarded more work to the semi-sub rig for drilling activities in 2018-2019.