Norway Awards 24 Offshore Licences

Norway announced the results of the 22nd licencing round, awarding 20 production licences in the Barents Sea and four in the Norwegian Sea. Fourteen companies will be offered operatorships and other 15 will be offered participating interests.

“The companies have demonstrated their strong interest and submitted numerous good applications. This confirms that the Norwegian Continental Shelf is a highly interesting petroleum province,” said Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe in a note released on Thrusday.

By the application deadline on 4 December 2012, 36 companies had applied for production licences. Statoil Petroleum AS was the company being offered the largest number of licences (3) and participating interests (7). ENI Norge AS was offered three operatorships, for a total of four participating interests. North Energy ASA and OMV (Norge) AS followed Statoil in terms of participating interests with 6 licences. GDF Suez E&P Norge AS was awarded 5 participating interests.

A participating interest is a minority stake in an oil or gas source, while an operatorship is a majority stake that corresponds to the right to operate.

“Interest in our northernmost seas has increased in recent years. We are now laying the foundation for long-term and efficient exploration of our northern seas, in both the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea. This will promote further growth and employment not only in the north of Norway but also in the rest of the country,” said Borten Moe.

According to the note, the new production licences awarded in the 22nd licensing round will only begin contributing to production in 10 to 15 years’ time.