The offers are being issued after the authorities have evaluated applications from 50 companies in the Awards in Pre-defined Areas (APA) 2013.
Of the 65 production licences, 38 are located in the North Sea, 19 in the Norwegian Sea and 8 in the Barents Sea. Seventeen of the production licences are additional acreage to existing production licences. Ten of the new licences are divided stratigraphically and only apply to levels below/above a defined stratigraphic boundary.
A record number of companies applied for available acreage this year.
“It is clear that the oil companies still consider it interesting to explore for oil and gas in mature areas,” says Sissel Eriksen, exploration director in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Greatest interest was shown for the northern part of the North Sea and central part of the Norwegian Sea.
“We see that a lot of good work has been put into most applications, and some have submitted very interesting exploration concepts,” says Eriksen. “The level of the applications was generally very high, and nearly everyone who applied in APA 2013 will receive ownership interests.”
She believes the interest stems from familiar geology, and notes that several of these areas have a time-critical infrastructure. Exploring the nearby areas in order to realise the resource potential is therefore urgent.
Of the companies that applied, 48 will receive offers of ownership interests in at least one production licence. Twenty-nine companies will be offered operatorship. Petoro will participate as a licensee and will manage the State's Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in 12 production licences.
The offers are subject to obligations stipulated by the authorities. There is a requirement for acquisition of new seismic in 11 areas and a firm well must be drilled in the southern North Sea. For the other production licences there are “drill or drop” conditions. This means that the licensees have between one and three years to decide whether they want to drill an exploration well. If they do not wish to drill an exploration well, the production licence lapses.
From the first APA round in 2003, the APA area has been expanded several times and for the APA 2013 comprised a total of 199,054 square kilometres, an increase of 860 square kilometres from APA 2012. APA 2013 was announced on February 15th 2013. Up until the deadline of September 11th 2013, the companies could apply for a total of 103,029 square kilometres.
Exploration director Sissel Eriksen believes the APA scheme functions well and as intended. The industry has a predictable framework, and the authorities achieve the goal of more rapid turnover of area and steady exploration activity.
Offers to 29 operators:
(number of operatorships in brackets)
A/S Norske Shell (3)
Bayerngas Norge AS(2)
Centrica Resources Norge AS (3)
ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (1)
Dana Petroleum Norway AS (2)
Det norske oljeselskap ASA (2)
DONG E&P Norge AS(2)
E.ON E&P Norge AS (1)
Edison International Spa Norway Branch (3)
EnQuest Norge AS (1)
Faroe Petroleum Norge AS(2)
Lotos Exploration & Production Norge AS (2)
Lundin Norway AS (4)
Maersk Oil Norway AS(1)
Marathon Oil Norge AS (1)
Norwegian Energy Company ASA (2)
North Energy ASA (2)
OMV Norge AS(1)
PGNiG Upstream International AS (1)
Premier Oil Norge AS (2)
Repsol Exploration Norge (1)
Rocksource ASA (2)
Statoil Petroleum AS (7)
Suncor Energy Norge AS (2)
Talisman Energy Norge AS (1)
Total E&P Norge AS (2)
Tullow Oil Norge AS (4)
VNG Norge AS (3)
Wintershall Norge ASA (5)
Offers to 48 licensees:
(number of shares in brackets, including where the companies are operators)
Atlantic Petroleum Norge AS (2)
A/S Norske Shell (4)
Bayerngas Norge AS (9)
Bridge Energy AS (2)
Capricorn Norge AS (3)
Centrica Resources Norge AS (10)
Chevron Norge AS (2)
Concedo ASA (7)
ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (2)
Core Energy AS (3)
Dana Petroleum Norway AS (3)
Det norske oljeselskap ASA (6)
Dong E&P Norge AS (2)
E.ON E&P Norge AS (2)
Edison International Spa Norway Branch (5)
ENI Norge AS(1)
EnQuest Norge AS (2)
Explora Petroleum AS (3)
ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway AS (1)
Faroe Petroleum Norge AS (10)
Fortis Petroleum Norge AS (6)
GDF SUEZ E&P Norge AS (1)
Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS (1)
Ithaca Petroleum Norge AS (2)
Lime Petroleum (5)
Lotos Exploration & Production Norge AS (2)
Lundin Norway AS (9)
Maersk Oil Norway AS (5)
Marathon Petroleum Norge AS (1)
Moeco Oil & Gas Norge AS (1)
Norwegian Energy Company ASA (5)
North Energy ASA (6)
OMV Norge AS (2)
Petrolia Norway AS (1)
PGNiG Upstream International AS (1)
Premier Oil Norge AS (2)
Repsol Exploration Norge AS (3)
Rocksource ASA (5)
Skagen44 AS (5)
Spike Exploration Holding AS (2)
Statoil Petroleum AS (10)
Suncor Energy Norge AS (4)
Svenska Petroleum Exploration AS (1)
Talisman Energy Norge AS (3)
Total E&P Norge AS (4)
Tullow Oil Norge AS (8)
VNG Norge AS (6)
Wintershall Norge ASA (8)
