Equinor picks up drilling permit for Barents Sea wildcat

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Equinor a drilling permit for a wildcat well in the Barents Sea offshore Norway. 

The NPD said on Wednesday that the drilling program for well 7132/2-1 relates to the drilling of wildcat wells in production license 857.

Equinor is the operator of the license with an ownership interest of 40 percent. Other licensees are Aker BP, Lundin, and Petoro with a 20 percent interest each.

The area in this license consists of blocks 7232/10, 7132/1,2,6, 7133/4 and the southern part of blocks 7132/3 and 7133/1. The well will be drilled about 175 kilometers north of Vardø.

Production license 857 was awarded on June 10, 2016, in the 23rd licensing round on the Norwegian Shelf. This will be the first well drilled in the license.

Earlier this year, Equinor got consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority for drilling of the 7132/2-1 well using the  the West Hercules drilling rig. The well was previously scheduled to start in August.

Wildcat well 7132/2-1 will be drilled from the West Hercules drilling rig, a semi-submersible drilling rig of the GVA 7500 type operated by North Atlantic Drilling, after concluding the drilling of appraisal well 7122/7-7 S for Eni Norge in production license 229.

To remind, Eni received consent to use the West Hercules on the 7122/7-7 S well in early October while the drilling permit for the well was awarded in late November.