Offshore staff
REYKJAVIK --Iceland has closed its first licensing round for the offshore northern Dreki area.
The country's National Energy Authority (NEA) received two applications for exploration and production licenses, and one for a prospecting license in the Dreki region.
NEA claims to be satisfied with the response, given the demanding and high-cost environment for exploration in the area. Further applications for prospecting permits can be submitted under the country's open door policy.
The closing date for the First Licensing Round for the northern Dreki area was May 15. The National Energy Authority (NEA) of Iceland received applications from Aker Exploration and Sagex Petroleum and Lindir Exploration
Taken together, the applications are for blocks, complete or partial:
• IS6708/1
• IS6708/2
• IS6808/11
• IS6909/11
Blocks IS6808/11 and IS6909/11 are within the area of the agreement of Oct. 22, 1981, between Norway and Iceland on the continental shelf between Iceland and Jan Mayen.
During the Licensing Round the difficult conditions in the world economy as well as the low oil prices have undoubtebly affected other parties that were interested in the Licensing Round.
The applications that the NEA received will be evaluated according to the criteria published in the documents for the Licensing Round and the decision on the issuing of licenses is planned to be finalized by the end of October.
05/18/2009
