Norwegian offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has granted its approval to the oil giant Shell to use two subsea wells on the Draugen field, offshore Norway.

Shell is the operator of the Draugen oil field at Haltenbanken located in block 6407/12 in the Norwegian Sea, around 150 kilometres north of Kristiansund. Production from the field began in 1993.

The field has been developed using a fixed concrete platform with an integrated deck. Deposits in the vicinity are produced by subsea wells tied back to the Draugen platform. In 2013, Shell initiated a programme to drill four subsea wells on the field and two of these came on stream in 2014.

The PSA has now given Shell its consent to commission the last two wells, designated G2 and G3. The safety agency said that the consent also covered underwater equipment, subsea pumps and equipment on board the Draugen platform linked to these wells.

Shell recently awarded contracts to two Island Offshore’s vessels for work on the Draugen field.

The vessel owner said that Island Valiant would prepare the wells in April for the work which Island Constructor would perform later this summer.

Island Offshore also said that the Island Constructor was assigned three jobs with different duration, starting in the early summer with Light Well Intervention and scale squeeze on two wells at Draugen. In August/September the vessel will return for two more jobs involving LWI and IMR work.