Two Australian independents successful in latest UK North Sea license hand-outs

    May 10, 2024
    Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority has offered Finder Energy operatorships in two licenses in the central UK North Sea in the final tranche of awards from the 33rd UK Offshore Licensing Round.
    Courtesy Finder Energy
    Some of Finder Energy's current licenses in the North Sea
    Some of Finder Energy's current licenses in the North Sea

    Offshore staff

    SOUTH/NORTH PERTH, Australia — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority has offered Finder Energy operatorships in two licenses in the central UK North Sea in the final tranche of awards from the 33rd UK Offshore Licensing Round.

    The first license is in the Ettrick Sub-basin between Finder’s P2528 and P2527 existing licenses and adjacent to the prolific Buzzard and Golden Eagle oil fields.

    Finder will use recently reprocessed Big Buzz 3D seismic over the new permit area to high-grade exploration prospects. The license also contains the depleted Ettrick and Blackbird oil fields.

    Dana Petroleum will be the co-venturer, extending the two parties’ current existing partnership across three other central North Sea licenses.

    Finder will have a 100% interest in the other new license, which is to the north on the South Halibut Shelf. The work program includes seismic reprocessing, similar to the work done for Big Buzz 3D.

    The company has identified various Upper Jurassic prospects, similar in age to nearby oil fields.

    Courtesy Finder Energy
    Map showing location of new licenses and Finder’s existing licenses in the area
    Map showing location of new licenses and Finder’s existing licenses in the area

    Another Australian independent, Hartshead Resources, gained offers of 10 new blocks, mainly in the southern gas basin.  All contain discovered hydrocarbons, with a range of redevelopment, development and appraisal opportunities, along with multiple near-field exploration prospects.

    According to PGS, the latest tranche of 31 licenses includes 21 with drill or drop commitments, one with a seismic acquisition commitment, and two with firm well commitments.

    The other four cover more mature assets and are entering a second term. Most of the awards are in the southern North Sea with three in the central sector and two in the East Irish Sea.

    PGS is offering multiclient coverage over these areas to the successful bidders, including GeoStreamer 3D seismic and its new Southern North Sea 3D Vision dataset.

    05.10.2024

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