Statoil Gets Nod to Use Scarabeo 5 at Visund Sør

Statoil has received consent to use the Scarabeo 5 mobile drilling facility for drilling and completion in connection with production drilling on Visund Sør field in the North Sea, offshore Norway.

The consent relates to drilling and completion of wells 34/8-V-1 H and 34/8-V-2 which are part of production licence 120.

The drilling is scheduled to start in April/May with a planned duration of 28 days.

Visund Sør is an oil and gas field located between the Gullfaks C and Visund facilities, approx. 125 km west-northwest of Bulandet in Sogn og Fjordane. The field will be developed with a subsea template that will be tied in to Gullfaks C. Water depth in the area is approx. 290 metres.

Scarabeo 5 is a semi-submersible drilling rig, built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Genoa, Italy in 1990 and registered in the Italian ship register. The facility is owned and operated by Saipem. It received an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in May 2003.