Norway’s Equinor has been given consent by the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) for exploration drilling in block 6608/10 in the Norwegian Sea, using one of Songa Offshore’s Cat D rigs.
The operator Equinor has received consent to drill appraisal well 6608/10-18 in production license 128 D, the safety agency said on Thursday.
The well is to be drilled by the Songa Encourage Cat D drilling rig.
The consent also includes an option to drill one or two sidetracks. Water depth at the site is 373 meters.
The planned start of the drilling operations is June 2018. Drilling of the main well 6608/10-18 is expected to take 26 days while drilling of sidetracks is estimated at 18 days.
Songa Encourage is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the GVA 4000 type, operated by Songa Offshore which was acquired in early 2018 by Transocean . It was built at the Daewoo yard in South Korea in 2016. It is classified by DNV GL and registered in Norway.
Songa Encourage was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in April 2016.