BG Norge has been granted consent by the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to conduct exploration drilling with the mobile facility West Alpha. The consent relates to drilling of appraisal well 17/12-4 in the southern North Sea. The well is located in the Egersund basin around 140 nautical miles southwest of Stavanger. The well is part of production license 407. Drilling is estimated to start in June 2009. Duration of the operation is around 70 days.
The well has following geographical coordinates:
North 58° 10′ 37.579, East 3° 55′ 11.047. The licensees are BG Norge (operator), Skeie Energy AS, Premier Oil plc and Spring Energy Norway AS.
West Alpha is an ultra yatzy drilling facility, built in 1986. The facility has been modified several times and is registered in Panama with Det norske Veritas AS as classification society.
West Alpha is operated by Seadrill Limited with an operations office in Stavanger. The company received an acknowledgement of compliance in December 2001.