Go-ahead for Neptune to use Deepsea Yantai rig for Gjøa production drilling

Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given its consent to Neptune Energy for production drilling on the Gjøa field off Norway using the Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible drilling rig.

The PSA said on Friday that the consent was for production drilling on Gjøa, which lies in production licence 153.

According to the offshore regulator, the drilling operations on the field will last for 240 days.

Gjøa is in the northern part of the North Sea, 50 kilometres northeast of the Troll field. It was discovered in 1989, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 2007.

The field comprises several segments. Gjøa is developed with a semi-submersible production facility and includes four 4-slot templates, as well as one single-slot template on the P1 segment.

Production started in 2010, and in 2019, Gjøa was given the green light for the redevelopment of the P1 segment.

The field is operated by Neptune which holds a 30 per cent stake. The remaining license partners are Petoro (30 per cent), Wintershall Dea (28 per cent), and OKEA (12 per cent).

It is worth noting that the Vega and Vega Sør fields are also tied-back to Gjøa for processing and further export.

Another field which is currently being developed and will be tied-back to Gjøa is Witnershall Dea’s Nova field.

Earlier this month, Heerema’s Sleipnir, the world’s largest semi-submersible crane vessel, transported and installed the Nova topside module on the Gjøa platform.

The Deepsea Yantai, formerly named Beacon Atlantic, was hired by Neptune Energy for up to 16 wells offshore Norway back in March 2019.

Neptune received several consents recently for the use of the Deepsea Yantai in Norway.

Namely, one was given to the company in early December 2019 for the 35/9-15 and 35/9-15A wells on production license 153, the same license that holds Gjøa.

Work on the wells was scheduled to begin in December 2019 and was estimated to last for at least 56 days.

Another one was received this month and it relates to exploration drilling of two exploration wells in production license 882 to explore a prospect named Dugong.