The Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given consent to oil major Statoil to use the Askepott drilling rig to perform well activities at Oseberg Vestflanken 2 off Norway.
The PSA said on Wednesday that the consent covered drilling, sidetrack drilling, plugging, and well interventions at Oseberg Vestflanken 2.
Drilling was scheduled to begin in October/November 2017. According to PSA, the consent applies until November 2025.
Askepott or Cinderella is one of two newbuild Cat J jack-up drilling rigs of the Gusto MSC CJ70-X150-ST type. The second rig is the Askeladden , both contracted to Statoil.
The Askepott rig was built in South Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries and completed in 2017. The Cat J rig can operate in water depths of 70-150 meters and drill wells up to 10,000 meters. Askepott, like the Askeladden, was tailor-made for operations in harsher environments and wells in shallow waters of the Norwegian continental shelf.
To remind, Offshore Energy Today reported on Tuesday that the Askepott received the acknowledgment of compliance (AoC) from the PSA.
As for Oseberg Vestflanken 2, it is the first of three planned phases for developing the remaining reserves in the Oseberg area located in the North Sea some 130 kilometers northwest of Bergen.
The Oseberg Vestflanken Development will consist of an unmanned wellhead platform with ten well slots. Two existing subsea wells will also be reused. The wells will be remote-controlled from Oseberg field center. Production start is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.