Aker BP is the operator of the Volund field, in the North Sea, around 220 kilometres west of Tananger in Rogaland county. Volund is an oil field that has been developed using a subsea facility tied back to the Alvheim FPSO unit. The Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway (PSA) has given Aker BP consent to drill an exploration well with the designation 24/9-11S on the field. The consent also covers a potential sidetrack. The object of the drilling is to investigate the potential of a formation 7.5 kilometres west of the subsea facility at Volund. Water depth at the site is 122 metres. The drilling work is scheduled to take 28 days. Any potential sidetrack will be in addition to this. Drilling is to be performed using the Transocean Arctic mobile drilling facility, which is owned and operated by Transocean. Transocean Arctic was built in 1987 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. (Source: PSA)