Norway Awards Fifty-Six Offshore Licenses

On January 17, offers for 56 new production licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf were sent to 29 companies.

Of the 56 licenses, 36 are in the North Sea, 17 in the Norwegian Sea and three in the Barents Sea. 12 of the production licenses are additional acreage to existing licenses. 

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate stated that there has been a lot of interest in the areas around the shutdown Frigg field, where new discoveries have been made in recent years. Considerable interest has also been shown in areas near earlier discoveries in the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea.

The players in the awards range from several small, new companies to international majors. 

Statoil was awarded interests in 29 exploration licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf, 16 of these as operator, and 13 as a partner. The award illustrates Statoil’s intensified search for new resources in the Norwegian Sea.

Lundin has been awarded four exploration license interests including one in the North Sea, two in the Norwegian Sea and one in the southern Barents Sea.
 
DEA was awarded two new licenses. One, license PL 896, is situated in one of DEA’s focus areas in the Norwegian Sea, north-east of the Skarv field and its operated development Dvalin. DEA plans to participate in four to five wells a year, both as partner and as operator.

Aker BP, a relatively new entrant into the market in Norway, has been offered interests in 21 licenses including 13 as operator. Aker BP was formed by a merger of BP’s Norwegian subsidiary, BP Norge, and Det norske late last year.

Maps are available here.

Offer to 17 operators (Number of operatorships in brackets)
 
Aker BP (13)
Capricorn (2)
ConocoPhillips (3)
DEA (1)
ENGIE (1)
Eni (1)
Faroe (2)
Lundin (2)
MOL (1)
PGNiG (1)
Shell (4)
Statoil (16)
Suncor (1)
Total (1)
VNG (2)
Wellesley (3)
Wintershall (2)
 
Offer to 29 licensees (Number of shares (including operatorships) in brackets)
 
Aker BP (21)
Capricorn (7)
Centrica (4)
Concedo (5)
ConocoPhillips (6)
DEA (2)
Edison (1)
ENGIE (2)
Eni (3)
Faroe (4)
Fortis (4)
Idemitsu (1)
LOTOS (5)
Lundin (4)
M Vest (1)
MOL (4)
OMV (3)
Petrolia (2)
PGNiG (2)
Point (5)
Repsol (2)
Shell (7)
Skagen 44 (1)
Statoil (29)
Suncor (2)
Total (2)
VNG (4)
Wellesley (8)
Wintershall (5)