StatoilHydro has been granted consent to use the mobile facility Transocean Leader for production drilling in the Norwegian Sea.

StatoilHydro's application for consent applies to drilling of the wells 6506/11-A-1 H, A-2 H, A-3 H and 6506/11-B-3 H on the oil and gas field Morvin. The field is part of production licence 134 B.

The Morvin field is located 21 km north of Kristin and 15 km northwest of Åsgard A. The water depth in the area is approx. 350 m.

Morvin was discovered in 2001, and the Plan for Development and Operations (PDO) was approved on 25 April 2008.

Production from the field is estimated to start late in 2010.

Four wells will be drilled in two subsea templates, which will be connected to Åsgard B via an approx. 20-kilometre pipeline.

Transocean Leader will drill the top hole sections. According to the application for consent, the operation will start in May 2009, and is estimated to last for 200 days. Later the Scarabeo 5 will drill into the reservoir.

Transocean Leader is a semi-submersible mobile drilling facility owned and operated by Transocean Offshore Ltd. It was delivered from Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea in 1987. The facility received an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) on 16 December 2004.

Tags: Petroleum Safety Authority, StatoilHydro