Largest Licensing Award on NCS

Largest Licensing Award on NCS
The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has offered 83 production licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as part of its latest APA round.

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy revealed Tuesday that it has offered 83 production licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) as part of its latest APA round.

The licenses are distributed over the North Sea (37), the Norwegian Sea (32) and the Barents Sea (14). Offers were made to 33 different oil companies, ranging from international majors to smaller domestic exploration companies. The full list of companies can be seen below:

  • Aker BP
  • AS Norske Shell
  • Capricorn
  • Chrysaor
  • Concedo
  • ConocoPhillips
  • DEA
  • DNO
  • Dyas
  • Edison
  • Equinor
  • Faroe
  • Idemitsu
  • INEOS
  • Inpex
  • Lime
  • Lundin
  • M Vest
  • MOL
  • Neptune
  • OKEA
  • OMV
  • Pandion
  • Petrolia NOCO
  • PGNiG
  • Repsol
  • Source
  • Spirit
  • Suncor
  • Total
  • Vår Energi
  • Wellesley
  • Wintershall

“I am delighted to offer 83 new production licenses in this year's APA round. This is the largest licensing award on the Norwegian continental shelf,” Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Kjell-Borge Freiberg, said in a government statement.

“Fifty-three years after the first licensing round, this new record confirms the industry's belief in continued value creation and activity in Norway,” he added.

Commenting after the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced the results of the APA round, Jamie Thompson, an analyst on Wood Mackenzie’s Europe upstream team, said, “it’s undoubtedly positive to see so many license awards and active companies in this year’s APA”.

The Wood Mackenzie representative added however that “the proof is in the work commitments” and stated that “those left something to be desired, with the number of wells down from five to three on last year”.

The first licensing round on the NCS took place in 1965. The activity started in the North Sea, and exploration in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea started around 15 years later.



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