Norwegian energy company Equinor has been given consent to use the Deepsea Atlantic offshore drilling rig on the Gullfaks field in the North Sea, offshore Norway.
Equinor will use Odfjell Drilling's semi-submersible drilling rig for production drilling at the field located in the production license 050.
According to the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, which gave its consent for the operation, consent applies to production drilling on the Gullfaks subsea template O and M and the drilling is expected to take 72 days.
Gullfaks is a field located in the Tampen area in the northern part of the North Sea. The water depth in the area is 130-220 meters.
Gullfaks was discovered in 1978, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) for Gullfaks Phase I was approved in 1981. A PDO for Gullfaks Phase II was approved in 1985. Production started in 1986.
The field has been developed with three integrated processing, drilling, and accommodation platforms with concrete bases (Gullfaks A, B and C).