Wellesley is the operator for production licence 871 in the North Sea. We have now given the company consent to drill exploration well 25/1-13.

The area where the well is to be drilled is in the central North Sea, 42 kilometres north of the facilities on the Jotun field and 153 kilometres from land (Gisøy in Bømlo municipality in Hordaland county).

Water depth at the site is 109 metres.

The drilling operations are scheduled to begin on 22 January 2019. The drilling will last 30 days if the well is dry and up to 52 days if hydrocarbons are discovered.

The well is to be drilled by the Transocean Arctic mobile drilling facility, which is a semi-submersible facility of the Marosso 56 type, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan in 1987. It is classified by DNV GL and registered in the Marshall Islands.

The facility is operated by Transocean Ltd and received Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in July 2004.

Wellesley has given well 25/1-13 the name “Balcom”.