The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued a drilling permit to Equinor for a wildcat well located in the North Sea offshore Norway.

The well 34/7-37 S will be drilled from the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig, the directorate said on Thursday.

The drilling programme for well 34/7-37 S concerns the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 089.

Equinor is the operator of the licence with an ownership interest of 41.5 per cent.

Other licensees are Petoro AS (30 per cent), Vår Energi (16.1 per cent), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6 per cent), and Wintershall Dea Norge (2.8 per cent).

The area in this licence consists of parts of block 34/7. The well will be drilled east of the Statfjord field, directly west of the discovery 34/7-21 Borg.

Production licence 089 was awarded on 9 March 1984 (8th licensing round on the Norwegian shelf). This is the 42nd exploration well to be drilled in this licence.

The Deepsea Atlantic is a sixth generation deepwater and harsh environment semi-submersible rig capable of operating at water depths of up to 3,000 meters.