The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Aker BP ASA a drilling permit for wells 7234/6-1 and 7234/6-1 A, cf. Section 13 of the Resource Management Regulations.

Wells 7234/6-1 and 7234/6-1 A will be drilled from the Deepsea Nordkapp drilling facility after concluding the drilling of wildcat well 7322/6-1 S for Equinor Energy AS in production licence 722.

The drilling programme for wells 7234/6-1 and 7234/6-1 E relates to the drilling of a wildcat well and an appraisal well in production licence 858. Aker BP ASA is the operator with an ownership interest of 40 per cent.

The other licensees are Lukoil Overseas North Shelf AS (20 per cent), Petoro AS (20 per cent) and Equinor Energy AS (20 per cent).

The area in this licence consists of parts of blocks 7234/3, 7234/6, 7235/1, 7235/2, 7235/3, 7235/4 and 7235/5.

The wells will be drilled about 165 kilometres south of the 7435/12-1 discovery well and about 455 kilometres northeast of Hammerfest.

Production licence 858 was awarded on 10 June 2016 (23rd round). These are the two first exploration wells to be drilled in the licence.

The permit is contingent on the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities prior to commencing the drilling activity.

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