Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has given Statoil its consent to start operations on Asgard and Heidrun fields offshore Norway using the Songa Encourage drilling rig.

The PSA said the consent covers production drilling, completion, workover, intervention and plugging.

According to the safety authority, planned start-up at Asgard and Heidrun is mid-July 2016 and mid-December 2016, respectively.

As for the drilling rig, Songa Encourage is the third rig in a series of four Songa Offshore’s Category D rigs, specifically built for, and contracted to Statoil. The rig is under an eight-year contract, with four additional three-year options, with a dayrate of $480,000.

The offshore drilling contractor took delivery of Songa Encourage from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea in December 2015. The rig arrived from South Korea to Norway on March 15, 2016.

Asgard field is located on the Halten Bank in the Norwegian Sea, around 200 kilometres off mid-Norway and 50 kilometres south of the Heidrun field.

Heidrun field has been producing oil and gas since October 1995 from a floating tension leg platform with a concrete hull.