ConocoPhillips has received consent from the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use the West Elara drilling rig for production drilling on the Eldfisk field located offshore Norway.
The consent applies to the drilling of production and injection wells for the Eldfisk 2/7 S platform.
The PSA said on Monday that the drilling activities are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2019.
West Elara is a jack-up drilling rig owned and operated by Seadrill.
The Eldfisk field is in block 2/7 in the southern part of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The field was discovered in 1970, the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 1975 and the field came on stream in 1979.
The PDO for Eldfisk II was approved in 2011, and includes upgrading of existing infrastructure on the field, a new integrated well head, production and quarters facility (Eldfisk 2/7 S) and new production wells. Drilling using West Elara is part of this project.