Equinor granted consent for Svalin exploration drilling, use of Deepsea Aberdeen

Equinor Energy AS has been granted approval by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) for use of Odfjell Drilling Ltd.’s Deepsea Aberdeen semi-submersible drilling rig for production drilling, completion, and exploration drilling at Svalin oil field in the central part of the North Sea.

In May, Equinor added to the rig’s work scope with new wells to be drilled at Svalin field starting in this year’s fourth quarter for an estimated 174 days, extending the rig’s firm backlog into second-quarter 2025 (OGJ Online, May 4, 2023).

Svalin lies 6 km southwest of Grane field in water depth of 120 m. The field was discovered in 1992, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 2012.

The field is developed with a multilateral well drilled from the Grane platform (Svalin M), and with a subsea template tied-in to Grane (Svalin C) via pipeline. Production started in 2014.

Svalin produces oil and associated gas from massive sandstone of Paleocene to early Eocene age in the Heimdal and Balder formations. The reservoirs are in marine fan deposits and have excellent quality. They lie at a depth of 1,750 m.

Equinor is operator of the field with 57% interest. Partners are Petoro AS (30%) and Var Energi ASA (13%).

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