STAVANGER, Norway -- The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 7121/8-1, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations.

Well 7121/8-1 will be drilled from the Songa Enabler drilling facility, at position 71°25'43.86" N and 21°38'26.5" E after completing the drilling of production well 7121/4-F-3 H for Statoil Petroleum AS in production licence PL 099 at Snøhvit field.

The drilling program for well 7121/8-1 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 849. Statoil Petroleum AS is the operator with an ownership interest of 50%. The other licensees are Eni Norge AS (30%) and Petoro AS (20%). The area in this licence consists of a small part of block 7121/7 and parts of blocks 7121/8, 7121/9 and 7122/7. The well will be drilled about 25 km southeast of Snøhvit field.

Production licence 849 was awarded on Feb. 5, 2016, in APA 2015. This is the first well to be drilled in the licence area.

The permit is contingent upon the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities prior to commencing drilling activities.