The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted ENI Norge AS a drilling permit for wellbore 6507/2-4 in the Norwegian Sea.

The drilling program for wellbore 6507/2-4 applies to the drilling of an exploration well in production licence 122. ENI is the operator with an ownership interest of 20 per cent. Other licensees are Dong with an ownership interest of 30 per cent and Statoil with 50 per cent.

The area in this production licence consists of parts of block 6507/2, which lies barely 10 kilometres west of the Alve field in the north of the Norwegian Sea. Production licence 122 was awarded in licensing round 10B in 1986.

This is the fourth exploration well to be drilled in this production license.

Wellbore 6507/2-4 will be drilled from the West Alpha facility. The semi-submersible facility will arrive from the drilling of a well on the Kristin field in the Norwegian Sea.

The drilling permit is granted on the condition that all other permits and consents required by other authorities have been secured before the drilling activity commences.