Swedish oil and gas company Lundin has spudded the Polmak well in the Barents Sea offshore Norway, using the West Bollsta semi-submersible drilling rig.
A Lundin spokesperson told Offshore Energy via email that the Polmak well, located in production license 609, was spudded on 10 October 2020.
The spud date came only four days after the West Bollsta semi-sub was given an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by Norway’s safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority.
This is the rig’s first-ever well and Polmak is the first of three high-impact exploration prospects to be drilled by the company in the Barents Sea until the end of 2020.
In addition to Polmak, the West Bollsta is scheduled to drill the nearby Bask and Spissa wells. The gross unrisked prospective resources of the three wells are estimated to be at over 800 million barrels of oil equivalents.
As for the rig, the West Bollsta semi-submersible drilling rig is capable of operating in harsh environment areas and ultra-deep waters of up to 10,000 feet.
Northern Drilling bought the West Bollsta from Hyundai in December 2017. The original client for the rig, Fred. Olsen Energy , cancelled the order in 2015 as a result of the delays in the delivery date.
Also, Northern Drilling won a 10-well contract in Norway for the West Bollsta with Lundin back in late February 2019.
Seadrill is the manager of the rig during its contract with Lundin. Under the terms of the contract, the drilling program for the rig included the development of the Luno II field and the Rolvsnes discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The estimated backlog value for the firm period is approximately $200 million, excluding performance bonuses and additional services.