Wintershall Norge has awarded a rig contract to Seadrill Norway Operations for the Nova development in the North Sea.

Under the contract, Seadrill Norway Operations will operate the West Mira drilling rig on behalf of Northern Drilling.

A newly built sixth-generation rig that can be operated under any weather condition, West Mira will drill six subsea wells on the Nova field, at a water depth of around 370m.

It will drill six subsea wells on the Nova field in the early half of 2020.

As a part of the contract, Seadrill will be rewarded with incentives for efficient and safe operations.

Furthermore, the contract provides options to Wintershall Norge to use the rig for up to ten additional wells on its other operated assets or for exploration activities.

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Wintershall Norge has also entered a long-term frame agreement with Seadrill for potential future rig requirements.

Wintershall Norge managing director Hugo Dijkgraaf said: “This is another major milestone for the Nova project. With the procurement of this modern rig, we now have in place one of the final pieces of the puzzle that will allow us to build this field and deliver first oil from Nova in 2021.”

“We look forward to exploiting its capabilities as we seek to deliver our project to the highest standards of safety and efficiency.”

Wintershall Norge Nova project director André Hesse said: “Wintershall Norge has high expectations for the West Mira. We look forward to exploiting its capabilities as we seek to deliver our project to the highest standards of safety and efficiency.

“By awarding the contract with clear and compelling incentives, we align the needs and motivations of all our major drilling contractors creating ‘One Team’. This approach has paid dividends for us in previous projects.”

Nova will serve as a subsea tie-back linking two templates to the nearby Gjøa platform for export and processing.

Gjøa will also offer lift gas to Nova field and water injection for pressure support in the reservoir.

Discovered in 2012, Nova is located in the north-eastern North Sea, around 17km south-west of the Neptune Energy-operated Gjøa platform and about 120km north-west of Bergen.

Wintershall Norge with a 35% stake in the development has the operatorship, while other stakeholders include Capricorn Norge (part of Cairn Energy with 20% interest), Spirit Energy (20%), Edison Norge (15%) and DEA Norge (10%).