Consent for Equinor to use Transocean rig on Bauge field

Norwegian oil major Equinor has received consent from the offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), for exploration drilling in the Norwegian Sea using the Transocean Norge drilling rig.

The PSA said that the consent applied to the drilling and completion of two wells on the Bauge field in production license 348.

According to the safety regulator, the activities are scheduled to begin in February 2020 and are expected to last around 120 days.

The Bauge field development concept includes one subsea template, two oil producers, and one water injector.

The Bauge resources will be phased into the Njord A platform which will help increase the life of the Njord field by three years. Both projects are set to come on stream during 2020.

As for the rig, the Transocean Norge, formerly known as West Rigel, is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the MMCS60 type.

Transocean became the owner of the rig through an acquisition in May 2019. The rig was originally been ordered at the Jurong yard by a Seadrill subsidiary, North Atlantic Drilling Limited, but was never delivered. The Transocean Norge was built at Jurong between 2012 and 2016.

In September 2018, Transocean entered into an $89 million six-well contract with Equinor for the use of the Transocean Norge rig at the Tordis/Vigdis, Visund, Bauge, and Snorre licenses. It was at the time said that the contract would start in July 2019.

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