The Norwegian oil company Equinor has secured consent to use the Transocean Norge offshore drilling rig for drilling operations in the Norwegian Sea.
The country's offshore safety body, Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, on Friday gave its approval for the use of the rig for the drilling and completion of two wells on the Bauge field.
The field is located in production license 348 in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea. Water depth at the field is around 280 meters.
According to the PSA Norway, the drilling is expected to start in February and is expected to last around four months. Bauge, estimated to Bauge hold reserves of 73 million barrels of oil equivalent, will be developed as a subsea tie-back to the Njord A platform. According to previous reports, the field is expected to go online in 2020.
As for the rig Equinor will be using, the Transocean Norge, it is a semi-submersible drilling rig of the MMCS60 type.
The rig was built by Sembcorp Marine's Jurong Shipyard in Singapore between 2012 and 2016. It was first ordered by North Atlantic Drilling, but it was then delivered to Transocean which bought a stake in the rig last year. The rig is owned by Transocean and Hayfin Capital Management.
Designed for the Norwegian Continental Shelf operations, it is winterized to withstand Norwegian weather conditions.
Equinor and Transocean first signed a contract for the rig in September 2018. It was at the time stated that the contract would be for six firm and four optional wells with further options to extend.
Earlier this week, Transocean said that Equinor had exercised two one-month options for Transocean Norge, at a day rate of $291,000, each.