Oil and gas company Chrysaor and its partners have commenced drilling operations on the Jerv exploration well 15/12-25 in production licence PL973 in the southern Norwegian North Sea.

The Chrysaor-operated Jerv exploration well drilling targets a prospect close to the UK border in the southern North Sea.

In a press statement, OKEA said: “The licence lies directly south of the OKEA-operated Grevling and Storskrymten discoveries.

“An early drill decision was taken in PL973 to accelerate the identification of additional resources in the area to support these ongoing field development plans.”

Being drilled using the COSLInnovator semi-submersible rig, the Jerv exploration well 15/12-25 marks the first well of a two-well programme. The other well is located in Ilder prospect.

The partners are planning to undertake a contingent side-track and well testing to assess potential discovery.

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OKEA owns a 30% interest in the licence PL973 while Chrysaor and Petoro respectively hold 50% and 20% stakes. The licence was awarded in the Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2018 licensing round.

OKEA Subsurface & Wells senior vice-president Andrew McCann said: “The Jerv and Ilder wells are OKEA’s first exploration wells since 2019 and we are excited to see what results they bring, especially as discovered resources may support further maturation of the Grevling project.

“We have a third exploration well to be drilled later in the year on PL1060 and we hope that together they will provide resources to build our asset base further.”

Chrysaor Norge secured a drilling permit from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for well 15/12-26 last month.

Chrysaor and Aker BP also secured consent from the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use rigs for their respective drilling projects offshore Norway.