Aker BP to drill four North Sea wells

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), a government agency in charge of the country’s petroleum sector, has granted Aker BP drilling permits for four wells in the North Sea.

The NPD gave Aker BP two separate drilling permits on Tuesday for the drilling of four wells from the Transocean Arctic drilling rig.

The first permit concerns the drilling of the 34/2-5 S wildcat well in production license 790. The Transocean Arctic rig will begin drilling of the well following the completion of production drilling on the Alvheim field.

The area in this license consists of part of block 34/2 and part of block 34/5. The well will be drilled about 15 kilometers southwest of the Knarr field. PL790 was awarded on February 6, 2015, in APA 2014. This is the first well to be drilled in the license.

Aker BP is the operator with an ownership interest of 30 percent. The other licensees are Capricorn Norge AS (25 percent), Wellesley Petroleum AS (25 percent), and MOL Norge AS (20 percent).

The second drilling permit given to Aker BP concerns drilling of 24/9-12 S, 24/9-12 A, and 24/9-12 B, wells.

The drilling program for the three wells concerns drilling of one wildcat well and two appraisal wells in production license 340. Aker BP is the operator with an ownership interest of 65 percent, while Point Resources and Lundin Norway are the licensees with ownership interests of 20 and 15 percent, respectively.

The area in this production license is located in the central part of the North Sea and consists of parts of block 24/9, which borders the UK shelf. The wells will be drilled southwest of the Volund field. These are the fourth, fifth, and sixth exploration wells to be drilled in the production license.