Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has received applications from 41 companies for its Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2010 licensing program.
The Ministry aims to award new production licenses for this round either late this year or early 2012.
The purpose of the APA arrangement is to encourage exploration in mature areas of the Norwegian continental shelf, generating discoveries that could prolong the life of existing offshore infrastructure.
Johannes Kjøde, deputy director general of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), said that APA had let to major discoveries have been in mature areas in recent years, and cited the Utsira High in the central Norwegian North Sea as one example.
Proximity to existing facilities means that development of small discoveries is both profitable and faster than developments in less mature areas of the shelf, NPD adds.
APA 2011 offered a total of 108,430 sq km (41,865 sq mi) divided into 377 blocks. The predefined area in the Norwegian Sea was expanded by more than 20,900 sq km (8,069 sq mi), compared with the area offered under APA 2010, to cover a total of 62 blocks or part-blocks.
Large amounts of acreage were also relinquished within the APA area over the past year, and these have been included in this year’s round.
In APA 2010, 41 companies applied for an area covering 84,854 sq km (32,762 sq mi). Of this, 14,721 sq km (5,684 sq mi) were licensed early in 2011.
The following companies applied for licenses under APA 2011:
A/S Norske Shell, Agora Oil & Gas, Bayerngas Norge, Bridge Energy Norge, Centrica Resources Norge, Concedo, ConocoPhillips Scandinavia, Dana Petroleum Norway, Det norske oljeselskap, Dong E&P Norge, E.ON Ruhrgas Norge, Edison International - Norway Branch, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway, Faroe Petroleum Norge, Fortis Petroleum Norway, Front Exploration, GDF SUEZ E&P Norge, Idemistu Petroleum Norge, LOTOS Exploration & Production Norge, Lundin Norway, Maersk Oil Norway, Marathon Petroleum Norge, Nexen Exploration Norge, North Energy ASA (4sea Energy), Norwegian Energy Company, OMV (Norge), Petro-Canada Norge, Premier Oil Norge, Repsol Exploration Norge, Rocksource, RWE-Dea Norge, Sagex Petroleum Norge, Skagen44, Skeie Energy, Spring Energy Norway, Statoil Petroleum, Svenska Petroleum Exploration, Talisman Energy Norge, Total E&P Norge, VNG Norge, and Wintershall Norge.
09/15/2011
