Offers for 56 new production licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf are being made to 29 companies, 17 of which are operators.
The offers are being made after 33 companies applied in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate's (NPD) the Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2016.
Of the 56 production licenses, 36 are in the North Sea, 17 in the Norwegian Sea and three are in the Barents Sea (see more detail below). Statoil has the most, with 16 operatorships, followed by Aker BP with 13.
Twelve of the production licenses are additional acreage to existing production licenses. Three of the new licenses are stratigraphically divided and only apply to levels below/above a defined stratigraphic limit.
Sissel Eriksen, exploration director at the NPD says: “This year, interest has been particularly high for areas in the North Sea. The APA scheme demonstrates that exploration in mature areas provides further geological understanding and improved data, which creates exciting, new exploration possibilities."
A total of 16 out of 18 discoveries in 2016 were made in areas comprised by the APA scheme, says the NPD.
This year, there has been a lot of interest in the areas around the shut down 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. Some companies have presented "very interesting exploration concepts," says Eriksen.
Petoro will participate as a licensee and administrator of the State Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in 13 production licenses.
The licenses have terms and conditions, including the acquisition of new seismic and drilling a well.
Offer to 17 operators (number of operatorships in brackets)