Equinor ASA (EQNR Quick QuoteEQNR - Free Report) recently awarded a four-well drilling contract for the Statfjord Øst licence to COSL Offshore Management AS, a drilling service provider. Equinor plans to use the COSLPromoter rig at the site. Drilling of the wells is expected to start in spring 2023.

The contract is valued at around $56 million and is expected to span 220 days. Following the drilling work completion, COSLPromoter will have a five-well option in the Statfjord satellites. Using this rig is crucial for the company’s commitment toward expanding the life of the fields and keeping emissions low.

Last year, Equinor announced plans to boost recovery by 23 million barrels of oil equivalent from the North Sea StatfjordØst field by investing NOK 3 billion in the project. The move is expected to increase profitable production from the site and enhance value creation for investors. It will also increase the company’s overall activities in the Norwegian continental shelf, thereby positively impacting the suppliers. The move was targeted to boost the life of the field to 2040.

Equinor has already used the rig for eight years in the Troll field, wherein it started the phase three gas production this August. Troll is one of the largest gas fields of Norway that caters to almost 8% of the European Union’s gas consumption. Equinor is the operator of the third phase and has Petoro AS, and subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell plc , TotalEnergies SE (TTE Quick QuoteTTE - Free Report) , and ConocoPhillips (COP Quick QuoteCOP - Free Report) as partners in the project.

At the Statfjord Øst licence, Equinor is the operator with a 31.6875% stake. It has Petoro, Eni SpAaffiliate Vår Energi AS, Spirit Energy Norway AS, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS and Wintershall Dea Norge AS as partners in the licence.