Norway offers 38 production licenses in mature areas
The Norwegian government has offered 38 offshore production licenses in its "awards in predefined areas" (APA 2009)
round. License interests went to 42 companies, of which 19 will be operators, with work obligations covering a range
of exploration and production activity.
APA 2009 was Norway's seventh licensing round focusing on mature offshore areas.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy offered 25 production licenses in the North Sea, 10 in the Norwegian Sea, and 3
in the Barents Sea. It received applications for licenses from 44 companies. The ministry noted declining
expectations for the size of discoveries in mature areas and the need for small discoveries to have access to
producing facilities in existing oil and gas fields.
"It is therefore important to discover and develop resources in these areas before existing infrastructure in
connection to other fields is shut down," it said.
Companies offered licenses to operate and their numbers are
-- Norske Shell, one;
-- BridgeEnergy, one;
-- Centrica Resources (Norge), one;
-- ConocoPhillips Skandinavia, one;
-- Dana Petroleum Norway, one;
-- DNO, six;
-- Dong E&P Norge, one;
-- E.ON Ruhrgas Norge, one;
-- GdF Suez E&P Norge, one;
-- Lotos Exploration & Production Norge, one;
-- Lundin Norway, four;
-- Marathon Petroleum Norge, three;
-- Nexen Exploration Norge, one;
-- Norwegian Energy, two;
-- OMV (Norge), two;
-- Repsol Exploration Norge, one;
-- Rocksource, one;
-- Statoil Petroleum, six; and
-- Wintershall Norge, three.
