Wintershall Norge has secured a drilling permit from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate for well 6706/6-2 S, under cf Section 15 of Resource Management Regulations.
The company will drill the well using the Transocean Spitsbergen facility in position 67°37’20.60″N and 6°45’57.57″E, 7km north-west of 6706/6-1 (Hvitveis) discovery.
Operations for 6706/6-2 S relate to the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence (PL) 847.
As operator, Wintershall Norge owns 40% in PL 847. Repsol Norge, OMV Norge and Equinor Energy each own 20%.
The area in this licence comprises parts of block 6706/5 and block 6706/6.
It would the first well to be drilled in the PL 847, which was awarded on 5 February 2016 as part of the APA 2015 round.
Before drilling starts, Wintershall is required to obtain all other consents and permits required by other authorities.
In a separate development, Wintershall CEO Mario Mehren presented growth plans for the company in Norway during a visit by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg to Berlin.
As part of the plans, daily production will be increased from the existing total of around 575,000bpd of oil equivalent by 800,000 barrels over the next three to five years.
Mehren said: “Norway offers a stable regulatory framework and is an ideal environment for gas and oil industry investments in the search for new discoveries. Of course, this greatly boosts our exploration activities.”
