Statoil is the operator of the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea, west of Mo i Rana in Nordland county. The field has been developed using a floating production and storage unit, tied to the well templates on the seabed. Water depth at the Norne field is 380 m. The oil is transported from the Norne facility by tanker, while the gas is piped to Kårstø in Rogaland county and on to Germany. Production at Norne began in 1997.
The Alve field, which is 16 kilometres southwest of Norne, and other satellite fields are tied back to the Norne facility.
Statoil has received consent to use the Songa Encourage mobile drilling facility to perform well activities on these fields. The activities include drilling wells for production or injection, well overhaul and other intervention work, as well as plugging.
Songa Encourage is a semi-submersible drilling facility of the Cat D type, owned and operated by Songa Offshore. It was built by the Daewoo yard in South Korea in 2016, is registered in Norway and classified by DNV GL. Songa Encourage was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in April 2016.