MOL Norge gains safety consent for North Sea exploration well

Hungarian operator MOL has received consent from the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) for exploration drilling in the North Sea using the Rowan Viking drilling rig.

The well, named 2/6-6 S, is located in production license 860 in the North Sea where MOL’s Norwegian subsidiary, MOL Norge, is the operator.

Announcing its consent for the well on Friday, the offshore safety regulator informed that drilling was planned to start in September 2018 and expected to last between 66 and 71 days.

The PSA said that the well was aimed to investigate a prospect named Oppdal/Driva.

The well will be drilled in the southern sector of the northern North Sea, 45 kilometers east of the Valhall and Ekofisk fields and 20 kilometers north of the boundary with Denmark in a water depth of 70 meters.

It will be drilled by the Rowan Viking which is a jack-up mobile drilling rig built in Singapore in 2010. The rig is operated by Rowan Norway and was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in August 2014.