Norway awards oil licenses

The Government of Norway has offered ownership interests in 54 new oil production licences in connection with the Awards in Pre-defined Areas 2014 (APA 2014).

Forty-three different companies are offered ownership interests in the licensing round.

Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tord Lien (Progress Party), said:

“Today’s award of new exploration acreage provides new tangible exploration opportunities for the companies. Most of the exploration activity on the Shelf is carried out in mature areas. The awards contribute to ensure a stable activity level and continued exploration of the Norwegian Shelf. The fact that 43 different oil companies are offered ownership interests shows that we have an extensive diversity of players on the shelf.”

The 54 production licences are distributed over the North Sea (34), the Norwegian Sea (16) and the Barents Sea (4). A record number of applications were submitted by a total of 47 companies in APA 2014. Forty-three different companies will be awarded ownership interests in one or more production licences. Twenty-three of these companies will be offered operatorship.

Minster of Petroleum and Energy Tord Lien continued:

“The Government will maintain a predictable and high level as regards award of new acreage for petroleum activity. The awards in APA 2014 show that we are still keeping our promises, and that the APA rounds works as intended.”

The APA licensing rounds cover the most explored areas on the Norwegian shelf. One of the primary challenges in mature areas is the expected decline in discovery size. Minor discoveries will not be able to carry standalone developments, but may have good profitability when they can exploit existing and planned processing equipment and transportation systems, or be seen in context with other discoveries or planned developments. Timely discovery and exploitation of such resources is therefore important.