Oil and gas company Neptune Energy has secured two types of permits from Norwegian authorities for drilling operations in the Norwegian Sea, which will be carried out using a rig managed by the Norwegian drilling contractor, Odfjell Drilling.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) informed on Thursday that it has granted Neptune Energy adrilling permitfor wellbore /8-8 S, while the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) disclosed last week that it gave Neptune consent for exploration drillingin block /8 in the Norwegian Sea, covering wells /8-8 S and /8-8 A.
The drilling programme for wellbore /8-8 S entails the drilling of a wildcat well inproduction licence 938, which was awarded on 2 March 2018 and is valid until 2 March 2025. Neptune Energy is the operator of the licence with an ownership interest of 30 per cent, while its partners are OKEA (30 per cent), Pandion Energy (20 per cent), and Vår Energi (20 per cent).
Neptune Energy is targeting a prospect namedCalypsoand drilling operations will be conducted in water depths of 271 meters with theDeepsea Yantai semi-submersible rig– formerly known as the Beacon Atlantic – which is owned by China’s CIMC and managed by Odfjell Drilling.
This rig has been working for Neptune Energy in Norwaysince November 2019. Two years later, in November 2021, Neptuneextended the rig’s contractto include three additional wells in 2022. Earlier this month, Neptune added two more wells to the rig’s backlog.
The 2019-built Deepsea Yantai rig, which is capable of harsh environment operation, is of a GM4D design. In August 2022, the rig made anoil discovery in the Norwegian North Seawhile drilling for Neptune. This was Neptune’s second discovery in four months.
