Norway's Equinor has obtained regulatory consent to use the Island Wellserver vessel.
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway gave the oil company its approval to use the well intervention vessel in Norway in 2020.
The consent applies to the use of Island Wellserver for light well intervention on fields in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea.
Light well intervention vessels are used to increase recovery from the offshore oil fields. Light well intervention vessels are connected to a well with the aid of a toolbox lowered to the seabed. The vessels can carry out logging and wireline operations, but not drill. During LWI, downhole equipment is remotely operated via a wireline from the surface and – unlike rigs – without a riser.
The Island Wellserver well intervention vessel is owned by Island Offshore. It was built in 2008.
The vessel has been working for Equinor - formerly known as Statoil - since April 2009, and was awarded a new contract with Equinor in March 2019. By March 2019, the Island Wellserver had carried out more than 250 well interventions.