Austrian oil company OMV has received consent from Norway’s offshore safety regulator, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), to drill an exploration well in the Barents Sea with the Island Innovator rig.
OMV (Norge) AS, OMV’s Norwegian subsidiary, has now been given the consent to drill the wildcat well 7324/8-3 in block 7324/8, in a prospect named Wisting Central III.
The drilling location is in the Barents Sea, around 315 kilometers north of Hammerfest. Water depth at the site is 394.5 meters.
According to the regulator, the drilling is estimated to last for 31 days, and will begin in mid-August at the earliest.
The well is to be drilled by the Island Innovator semi-submersible drilling rig, which was recently awarded a one-well contract with OMV.
The semi-sub is currently in warm lay-up at Hanøytangen, Bergen. In the period from contract date until start date, project activities and training of crew on board the rig will be carried out. The semi-sub recently underwent the 5-year Special Periodic Survey at Semco Maritime’s yard.
The rig is a Global Maritime GM4000 type, delivered by the COSCO shipyard in China in 2012. It is owned by Island Drilling Company and operated by Odfjell Drilling.
Island Innovator was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in August 2013.
Offshore Energy Today Staff