Aker BP has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use the Maersk Drilling-owned Maersk Invincible drilling rig for operations on the Hod field offshore Norway.

The safety authority said on Thursday that Aker BP would use the Maersk Invincible jack-up rig for the drilling of a pilot hole on the Hod field.

The main goal of the well is to map the risk of shallow gas/water in the area.

The well will be permanently plugged and abandoned after the drilling operation is completed.

Hod is a field in the southern part of the Norwegian sector in the North Sea, about 13 kilometres south of the Valhall field. The water depth is 72 metres.

Hod was discovered in 1974, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 1988.

The field was developed with an unmanned wellhead platform, remotely controlled from Valhall. Production started in 1990.

The original Hod platform is no longer in service and will be removed after the wells have been permanently plugged.

Aker BP has recently submitted its plans for the re-development and operation (PDO) for the Hod project to the country's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

The Hod field will be re-developed with a normally unmanned installation remotely controlled from the Valhall field centre, with very low CO2 emissions due to power from shore.

Kvaerner has been awarded a contract for delivering the topside and steel substructure for the unmanned wellhead platform at the Hod field.

Subsea 7 has won a contract which includes EPCI for pipelines, umbilicals and tie-ins using key vessels from its fleet.

Production start is planned for the first quarter of 2022.