Petroleum Safety Authority have given Wellesley Petroleum AS (Wellesley) consent for exploration drilling of wells 35/4-U-1 and 35/4-2.

Wellesley is the operator for production licence 931. We have given the company consent for exploration drilling of wells 35/4-2 (Songesand) and 35/4-U-1 shallow gas pilot hole. The Songesand well is in the North Sea, about 28 kilometres north-west of Vega, 44 kilometres north-east of Visund and 50 kilometres north of Gjøa.

Water depth at the site is 392 metres.

Drilling will begin in early December 2018 and is estimated to last 17 days.

The wells will be drilled by Transocean Arctic, which is a semi-submersible drilling facility of the Marosso 56 type, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan in 1987. It is classified by DNV GL and registered in the Marshall Islands.