Equinor, MOL Cleared to Drill off Norway

Norway’s Equinor has been given the green light to drill a wildcat at the Echino South prospect near its Troll gas field, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate on October 14.

The 35/11-23 probe is situated at production licence 090 in waters 352 metres deep in the North Sea, where Equinor is partnered with ExxonMobil, the UK’s Neptune Energy and Japan’s Idemitsu Petroleum. The Deepsea Atlantic semi-submersible has been tasked with drilling.

Hungary’s MOL has also been cleared to drill well 25/8-19S at the Evra-Iving prospects at production licence 820S, using the Deepsea Bergen semi-submersible. This probe is some 6 km northwest of the Var Energi-operated Ringhorne field.