Statoil to Use West Hercules in PL 532 Drilling Ops (Norway)

Statoil Petroleum ASA has received consent to carry out exploration drilling of well 7220/7 in production licence 532 in the Barents Sea using the West Hercules rig.

The planned start-up is August 2013 with a duration of 42 days, depending on whether a discovery is made.

West Hercules is a 6th generation semi-submersible rig built in 2008 at Daewoo Shipyard, South Korea. The rig can operate in water depths of between 100 and 3000 metres.

The operating contractor for West Hercules is North Atlantic Drilling, with an operations office at Dusavik in Stavanger. The rig is registered in Panama, with Det Norske Veritas as the classification society.

West Hercules received Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA on 21 December 2012.