Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor has received clearance from the Norwegian authorities to conduct drilling activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) with a semi-submersible rig owned by Transocean, an offshore drilling contractor.

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has granted Equinor consent to use the Transocean Encourage semi-submersible rig for production drilling at the Åsgard field in the central part of the Norwegian Sea.

The permission includes, among other things, activities related to plugging and production drilling of wells 6506/12‑K‑2 AH and 6506/12‑H‑4 AH. The Transocean Encourage rig was hired in 2023 on a nine-well contract, with six more optional wells.

Recently, the semi-submersible secured a seven-well contract extension with Equinor. The 2016-built rig, which can accommodate up to 130 people, is a sixth-generation fully winterized, harsh environment semi-submersible rig with automated drilling control specially designed for operations on the NCS.

With the water depth in the area of 240-300 meters, Åsgard was discovered in 1981, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 1996. The field has been developed with subsea wells tied back to a production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), Åsgard A.

The development also entails Åsgard B, a floating, semi-submersible facility for gas and condensate processing. The gas centre is connected to a storage vessel for condensate, Åsgard C. While production from Åsgard A began in 1999, Åsgard B and C followed suit in 2000.

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