Norway Announces APA 2017 Results
Norwegian upstream regulator NPD said January 16 that 34 companies will be offered a total of 75 new production licences for mature acreage under the APA 2017 licensing round. Eni is absent from the list.
Announcing the planned awards, it said never before had so many licences been awarded in an APA round (Awards in Pre-defined Areas), and never before have this many applications been submitted.
New licences are being awarded in the expanded APA area in both the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. Of the 75 production licences, 45 are in the North Sea, 22 in the Norwegian Sea and 8 in the Barents Sea. Twenty-two are additional acreage for existing production licences. Three of the new licences are divided stratigraphically, so only relate to levels below/above a defined rock layer.
Eni is absent from the 34 companies; it faced recurrent problems with its operation of the Goliat oil field in the Barents Sea last year. In early 2017, it secured three APA 2016 licences, of which one as operator.
Of the 75 operatorships to be awarded under APA 2017, the lion's share go to Statoil (17), Aker BP (14) and Lundin (six). Two firms (Faroe Petroleum, ConocoPhillips) each are to pick up four operatorships; four firms (Total, OMV, Wintershall, and the new Spirit Energy jv of Centrica and Bayerngas Norge) will collect three operatorships each. Two operatorships each are to go to Engie E&P, Shell, Suncor, Hungary's Mol, Spain's Repsol, German VNG Norge, Norway's Wellesley and also Point Resources; while one each are to go to UK-based Ineos and Norway's Petrolia Noco.
“It is positive that companies are showing so much interest in exploring in the mature areas on the Norwegian shelf, where it is still possible to exploit existing infrastructure. It is also positive that the companies have shown interest in the expanded APA area in both the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea,” says Wenche Tjelta Johansen, assistant director responsible for exploration in the NPD. The regulator said there was a wide diversity in this year’s APA awards, ranging from small to major international companies. Of the 39 companies that submitted applications, 34 will be offered interests in at least one licence.
Details of the APA 2017 awards, together with work obligations, can be seen here and a map showing the licences to be awarded is shown here. The regulator and petroleum ministry this week began consulting on the APA 2018 round, due to be awarded early 2019.