West Hercules to drill frontier Barents Sea wildcat for Equinor

April 25, 2019
Equinor has permission from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate for an exploration well in the northeastern Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea.

Offshore staff

OSLO, NorwayEquinor has permission from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate for an exploration well in the northeastern Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea.

The Seadrill semisubmersibleWest Hercules will drill well 7335/3-1, the second on license PL 859, at a location around 435 km (270 mi) north-northeast of Vardø.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) recently conducted an audit of Seadrill and its management of emergency preparedness, logistics, maintenance, and the working environment on theWest Hercules.

The PSA team identified multiple breaches of regulations and concluded that Seadrill had not addressed non-conformities highlighted during a 2018 audit.

Seadrill has now received an order to:

1. Review the maintenance management system and associated work processes, and implement measures so that they perform as intended; and analyze why the deficiencies were not identified and followed up in connection with the introduction of a new system (Maximo) on the rig

2. Review and assess the impact of implemented measures that were undertaken on all facilities with AoCs under Seadrill’s responsibility in Norway following the January 2018 audit

3. Put into effect measures to ensure that lessons learned and ensuing initiatives include all facilities with AoCs under Seadrill’s responsibility in Norway.

04/25/2019