The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Aker BP and Equinor drilling permits for their respective wells in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea.
Aker BP has been granted the permit for wells 7234/6-1 and 7234/6-1 A. The wells will be drilled from the Deepsea Nordkapp drilling rig after concluding the drilling of wildcat well 7322/6-1 S for Equinor in production licence 722.
The drilling programme for wells 7234/6-1 and 7234/6-1 E relates to the drilling of a wildcat well and an appraisal well in production licence 858 .
Aker BP is the operator with an ownership interest of 40 per cent. Other licensees are Lukoil Overseas North Shelf (20 per cent), Petoro (20 per cent), and Equinor Energy (20 per cent).
The area in this licence consists of parts of blocks 7234/3, 7234/6, 7235/1, 7235/2, 7235/3, 7235/4 and 7235/5.
The wells will be drilled about 165 kilometres south of the 7435/12-1 discovery well and about 455 kilometres northeast of Hammerfest.
Production licence 858 was awarded on 10 June 2016 (23rd round). These are the two first exploration wells to be drilled in the licence.
Separately, Equinor has been granted a permit for well 6507/3-14, which will be drilled from the West Hercules drilling rig.
The drilling programme for well 6507/3-14 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 159 B . Equinor is the operator with an ownership interest of 53 per cent.
The other licensees are DNO Norge (32 per cent) and INEOS E&P Norge (15 per cent).
The area in this licence consists of parts of block 6507/3. The well will be drilled about 15 kilometres west of the Norne field.
Production licence 159 B was awarded on 13 August 2004. This is the fifth exploration well to be drilled in the licence.