Drilling of the Roald Rygg prospect in the Norwegian Sea has begun.
Atlantic Petroleum said well 6706/12-3 had been spudded using the Transocean Spitsbergen rig.
It is planned to drill to a total depth of 3420 metres and operations are expected to around 35 days.
Chief executive Ben Arabo, said: “We are very pleased to see the spud of the Roald Rygg well shortly after completing a deal with Statoil on the licence.
“With the development of new gas infrastructure in the Aasta Hansteen area, this is an attractive area for gas discoveries.
“Furthermore, the recent discovery of an oil leg below the gas cap in the neighboring Snefrid North licence has a larger positive impact for Atlantic Petroleum as the company has, over the past years, secured significant acreage in this part of the Norwegian Sea represented by ownership in PL528/B, PL602, PL704, PL705, PL763 and PL802.
“It has always been our belief that in addition to good gas prospectively there is oil in the area and the Snefrid North discovery proves this to be correct.”
The Roald Rygg Prospect is located next to the Snefrid North discovery (6706/12-2) recently drilled by PL218 where gas (105 m) and oil (4 m) were found in the Nise Formation.
In addition to Roald Rygg the PL602 license contains several other prospects and leads with significant follow up potential. The license is located adjacent to the Statoil-operated Aasta Hansteen field development which is due to come on stream in 2017.
Following the recent transactions the partnership consist of Statoil 42.5%, Centrica with 20%, Petoro 20%, Wintershall 10% and Atlantic Petroleum Norge 7.5%.