Det norske oljeselskap has been cleared by the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill an exploration well in production license 626 in the North Sea, offshore Norway, using the Maersk Interceptor jack-up drilling rig.

Det norske, soon-to-be-renamed Aker BP after its recent merger with BP Norge, will drill the exploration well 25/10-15 S in a prospect named Rovarkula.

The drilling will begin in July with an estimated duration of 25 days, depending if a discovery is made or not.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has given Det norske a drilling permit for the well earlier this month.

The Maersk Interceptor is owned by Maersk and operated by Maersk Drilling Norge. The jack-up rig was issued an Acknowledgment of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in December 2014.

The drilling program for well 25/10-15 S relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 626, Rovarkula, where Det norske oljeselskap is the operator with an ownership interest of 50 percent. Other licensees are Tullow Oil Norge with 30 percent interest and MOL Norge and Fortis Petroleum Norway with 10 percent each.

The area in this license consists of part of block 25/10. The well will be drilled in the northeastern part of the license, which is located in the central North Sea.

Production license 626 was awarded on February 3, 2012 (APA 2011). This is the first exploration well to be drilled in the license, but the third well within the area in which the license is located.