Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announces drilling permit for well 16/5-5 in production licence 410

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announces drilling permit for well 16/5-5 in production licence 410

STAVANGER -- The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway a drilling permit for well 16/5-5, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations.

Well 16/5-5 will be drilled from the Bredford Dolphin drilling facility in position 58°38’25.93’’ north 02°20’54.42’’ east in production licence 410.

The drilling programme for well 16/5-5 applies to the drilling of an exploration well in production licence 410 in the central part of the North Sea. Lundin Norway is the operator with a 70 % ownership interest. Statoil Petroleum has a 30 % ownership interest.

The area in this licence consists of a part of block 16/5. The well will be drilled 8.9 km southeast of well 16/4-6 S in production licence 359 and 8.3 km west of well 16/5-1.

Production licence 410 was awarded on 16 February 2007 (APA 2006). This is the first well in this licence. The area has been awarded earlier, and well 16/5-1 was drilled in the eastern part of the licence area. It was Elf that drilled this well in 1971, in production licence 007.

The permit is contingent upon the operator having secured all other permits and consents required by other authorities before the drilling starts.