The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Lundin Norway a drilling permit for an appraisal well in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway.
The well 7220/11-4 A will be drilled from the Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig in production license 609.
The license is operated by Lundin Norway with an ownership interest of 40 percent. The licensees in the license are Idemitsu Petroleum Norge with 30 percent and DEA Norge with the remaining 30 percent.
The area in this license consists of the blocks and parts of blocks 7220/6, 7220/9, 7220/11, 7220/12, and 7221/4. The well will be drilled about two kilometers south of the discovery well 7220/11-1 on the Alta discovery.
To remind, Lundin spud the 7220/11-4, known as Alta-4, in May . The main objective of the Alta-4 well was to further appraise the Alta discovery and provide a calibration point for the drilling of a horizontal well for a possible extended well test that is being planned for 2018.
The Alta discovery is estimated to contain gross contingent resources of between 125 and 400 million barrels of oil equivalents (MMboe).
As far as the rig is concerned, the Leiv Eiriksson is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the SS Trosvik Bingo 9000 type, owned by Ocean Rig and operated by Rig Management Norway. The drilling rig was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in July 2008.