Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has received consent from the country’s offshore safety authority to drill an exploration well in the Barents Sea using the Transocean Enabler rig.
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) said last Friday that the well was designated as 7220/7-4 at a prospect named Isflak.
It is located in production licence 532 where Equinor is the operator.
The water depth at the site is 351 metres. Drilling operations are estimated to last about 30 days.
The Norwegian company will use the Transocean Enabler semi-submersible rig, previously known as Songa Enabler, to drill the exploration well.
Equinor also drilled in the Barents Sea licence 532 using the Transocean Enabler rig in mid-2020.
The wildcat well 7219/9-3 was drilled about 25 kilometres south of the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea and 220 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest. The well was dry.
Also in the Barents Sea, Equinor is progressing the Wisting project development towards a final concept select decision.
The Wisting project is located in the Hoop area of the Barents Sea, around 310 kilometres from the Norwegian mainland. Volumes are estimated at 440 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The company earlier in November awarded contracts for concept studies for the Wisting project .
Suppliers who were awarded contracts in connection with the start of Wisting concept studies for FPSO are Aker Solutions, KBR, Sevan SSP, and Aibel.
For the SURF (Subsea Production and Processing Equipment, Umbilical, Risers and Flowlines) part, selected suppliers included Aker Solutions, TechnipFMC, OneSubsea Processing, IKM Ocean Design, and Kongsberg Maritime.