Aker BP, Equinor Get Drilling Permits for North Sea Wildcats

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Aker BP a drilling permit for the wildcat well well 35/4-3 in the North Sea, offshore Norway.

Located in the production license 685, the well will be drilled using Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Nordkapp semi-submersible drilling rig. The license was granted on January 26, and the well is expected to be spudded in February.

Aker is the operator of the license with a 40% stake. Its partners are Wellesley Petroleum (40%) and Petoro (20%). According to info shared previously by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, water depth at the well site is 399 meters, and the prospect name is Laushornet.

In a separate statement on Monday, the NPD said it had granted Equinor a drilling permit for the exploration well 34/4-17, also located in the North Sea.

Equinor will use Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Stavanger sem-sub drilling unit. The drilling permit was also granted on January 26, with the expected drilling start-up in February.

Equinor is the operator (31%) of the production license 057 where the well site is situated. Its partners are Petoro (30%), Wintershall Dea Norge (24%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6%) and Vår Energi (4,9%).

Worth noting, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway granted its own license to Equinor for the drilling of the  34/4-17 S well in the block back in December. PSA said at the time that the name of the prospect was Statfjord Kile.