Polish oil & gas firm gearing up for drilling ops offshore Norway

PGNiG Upstream Norway (PUN), part of Poland’s Orlen Group, has received consent from Norway’s offshore safety regulator to deploy one of the Odfjell Drilling-managed rigs for exploration activities in the Norwegian Sea.

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has granted PGNiG Upstream Norway consent for exploration drilling in the Norwegian Sea in production license 1055, which was awarded on February 14, 2020, and is valid until February 14, 2028.

As the operator of the license, PGNiG Upstream Norway has an ownership interest of 60%, while its partner, Norske Shell, holds the remaining 40% stake. The well Tomcat 6305/10-1 is expected to be drilled in a water depth of 367 meters with the Deepsea Yantai rig.

The rig, which is owned by China’s CIMC and managed by Odfjell Drilling, recently drilled the Ringhorne North exploration well and two additional side-track/appraisal wells in production license 956, which is operated by Vår Energi (50%), in partnership with Aker BP (20%), Harbour Energy Norge (15%), and Sval Energi (15%). 

The 2019-built Deepsea Yantai GM4D rig is capable of harsh environment operation.