Aker BP has been given a permission by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to drill three wells in the North Sea.
The company will use the Maersk Intrepid jack-up drilling rig to drill production wells 25/10-16 S, 25/10-16 A, and 25/10-16, after it completes drilling production wells on the Martin Linge field in the northern part of the North Sea.
The drilling program for wells 25/10-16 S and 25/10-16 A relates to the drilling of two appraisal wells and the drilling of one wildcat well 25/10-16 B in production license 028 B. Aker BP ASA is the operator with an ownership interest of 35 percent. The other licensees are Equinor Energy AS (50 percent) and Spirit Energy Norge AS (15 percent).
The area in this license consists of part of block 25/10. The wells will be drilled about ten kilometers north of the Ivar Aasen field in the central part of the North Sea.
Production license 028 B was awarded on 15 December 1999, and was carved out of production license 028 which was awarded in 1969 in the 2nd licensing round on the Norwegian shelf. These are the first three exploration wells to be drilled within the actual license, but two exploration wells were drilled when oil and gas discovery 25/10-8 Hanz was proven and delineated for the first time in 1997.