Four wells are planned to be drilled in the southern Barents Sea.
One well on the Svanefjell prospect in PL659 (WI 20%) and one well on the Shenzhou prospect in PL722 (WI 20%). The remaining two wells will be drilled in the southeastern area on licences that were awarded in the 23rd licensing round, with one well targeting the deeper horizons of the Korpfjell prospect in PL859 (WI 10%) and one well targeting the shallow horizons of the large Gjøkåsen prospect in PL859 (WI 15%).
Four wells are planned to be drilled in the Norwegian North Sea.
One well on the Lille Prinsen prospect in PL167 (WI 20%) in the Utsira High, on the Frosk prospect in PL340 (WI 15%) in the Alvheim area which is currently drilling, on the Rungne prospect in PL825 (WI 30%) and on the Mandal High prospect in PL860 (WI 40%) where the Company has recently acquired a position through a series of transactions.
The pre-tax exploration budget for 2018 is USD 115 million with a total of eight planned exploration wells.