Oil company Lundin has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill an exploration well off Norway with the Ocean Rig-owned Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig.
The 7219/12-3 S well is located in production license 533, located in the Barents Sea offshore Norway, where Lundin is the operator.
The PSA has now given its consent to Lundin to drill the exploration well 7219/12-3 S, the safety agency said on Wednesday. Lundin received a drilling permit for this well from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) in early November.
Drilling is scheduled to begin in December 2017, with a duration of 50 days, depending on whether a discovery is made.
The well is to be drilled by Leiv Eiriksson, which is a semi-submersible drilling facility of the SS Trosvik Bingo 9000 type, owned by Ocean Rig and operated by Rig Management Norway.
Leiv Eiriksson was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in July 2008.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lundin revealed it had completed the drilling of exploration well 7219/12-2 on the Hufsa prospect in PL533 in the southern Barents Sea. A non-commercial gas discovery was made in the main well while the sidetrack was dry. Once these wells are plugged and abandoned, the rig will move on to the next well.