Equinor receives consent for exploration drilling in Barents, North Sea
STAVANGER -- The Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway has given Equinor Energy consent to drill exploration well 16/5-7 in production license 502 in the North Sea.
Well 16/5-7 is to be drilled north-west of the Utsira High in the North Sea, southwest of Johan Sverdrup and north-east of Sleipner.
The well will have the following geographical coordinates:
- 58º 42’ 12.13’’ N
- 02º 31’ 08.81’’ E
Water depth at the location is around 344 ft (105 m).
Drilling is scheduled to begin in mid-May 2019 and estimated to last for 28 days.
The well will be drilled by , which is a semi-submersible drilling facility of the Aker H-6e type, operated by Transocean Norway Operations AS.
Transocean Spitsbergen received Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in 2012.
In addition, consent has been given to drill exploration well 7335/3-1 in production license 859 in the Barents Sea.
Well 7335/3-1 is in the far north-east of an opened area in the south-east Barents Sea, around 261 mi (420 km) off the coast of Finnmark.
The geographical coordinates are:
- 73º 59' 49.86" N
- 35º 50' 13.73" E
Water depth at the site is 784 ft (239 m).
The well is to be drilled by West Hercules, a semi-submersible drilling facility operated by Seadrill. West Hercules received an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in 2012.
Drilling is scheduled to begin in early May 2019 and estimated to last 55 days.
Equinor has named well 7335/3-1 “Korpfjell Deep”.
