Offshore staff

LONDON — Deltic Energy has provisionally been offered two licenses over three blocks in the central UK North Sea, under Tranche 2 of Britain’s 33rd Offshore Licensing Round.

One license covers blocks 22/24f (part) and 22/25e (part), including the Dewar prospect, which the company previously licensed. The Forties sandstone structure is close to existing and planned infrastructure associated with bp’s redevelopment of the Murlach (ex-Skua) Field as a tieback to its ETAP complex.

Deltic’s work program involves upgrading seismic datasets to improve definition of volumetrics and risk.

The other license, over Block 29/4b in the Central Graben, represents the residual part of a larger application. That included the contiguous Block 29/3b, which was provisionally awarded to Shell UK, Deltic’s partner in the Pensacola discovery, in Tranche 1 of the 33rd Round.

Block 29/3b was thought to be the most prospective part of the application area; Deltic will assess if there is technical merit in accepting Block 29/4b in isolation.

The company will now await the North Sea Transition Authority’s next communication concerning Tranche 3 license awards in the southern gas basin, which was the main focus of Deltic’s response to this round.

02.01.2024