The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Spirit Energy Norge a drilling permit for well 7322/7-1 located in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.

The well 7322/7-1 will be drilled from the Island Innovator drilling rig after completing the drilling of appraisal well 6506/9-4 A for Spirit Energy Norge in production license 433, the directorate said on Wednesday.

The drilling program for well 7322/7-1 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production license 852 (Scarecrow) where Spirit Energy Norge is the operator with an ownership interest of 60 percent and Aker BP is the licensee with an ownership interest of 40 percent.

The area in this licence consists of block 7322/7. The well will be drilled about 70 kilometres west of 7324/8-1 (Wisting) and about 110 kilometres northeast of Johan Castberg.

Production license 852 was awarded on June 10, 2016 (23rd licensing round on the Norwegian shelf). This is the first well to be drilled in the license.