Statoil Dominates Norwegian Licensing Round

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Just weeks after announcing plans to drill 30% more wells this year compared to 2016, Norwegian oil and gas major Statoil ASA (OSE:STL) (Stavangar, Norway) has been awarded a raft of new licences and drilling permissions by the Norwegian authorities.

The company has been granted permission for its development plans for the Utgard and Byrding fields in the North Sea, and also has been awarded 29 new production licences on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS), 16 as operator and 13 as a partner.

They comes as part of the country's annual 2016 Award in Predefined Areas (APA) process, which is on par with 2015, when a record number of licences were awarded. Statoil, as usual, dominated the wins with 29 of the 56 new production licences awarded across an area of 148,014 square kilometres. The remainder were shared out between 28 other companies.

"The NCS is the core of Statoil's business, and we are pleased with the awards in the 2016 APA round, which will allow us and the industry to continue exploring for profitable, high-value prospects," commented Jez Averty, Statoil's senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the U.K.. "Combined with the numbered rounds the annual licensing rounds are the authorities' main instrument for helping maintain exploration activities on the Norwegian continental shelf. New discoveries are needed in order to offset the declining production on existing fields on the NCS."

He added: "Over the past two years, we have replenished our portfolio with interesting prospects. This is reflected in the exploration plan we have published for 2017. There we focus on the Barents Sea after high-quality awards in the 23rd round and APA 2015. The awards in the APA 2016 round bolsters our position in the Norwegian Sea."

With regard to its development plans for the Utgard natural gas and condensate field, which was discovered in 1982 on the Norwegian and U.K. continental shelf, the company aims to drill two wells in a standard subsea concept, with one drilling target on each side of the median line. Utgard has recoverable reserves of 56 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), most of which lie on the Norwegian side. At the Byrding oil and gas field (previously known as Astero), Statoil is planning a dual-lateral well drilled from the existing Fram H-Nord subsea template. Oil and gas from Byrding will flow to Troll C. The field contains recoverable reserves of 11 million boe. Statoil is planning to spend a combined total of 4.5 billion kroner ($540 million) on the projects.

Earlier this month, Industrial Info reported that Statoil would drill around 30 exploration wells in 2017, an increase of 30% over last year. For additional information, see January 6, 2017, article--Statoil To Drill 30% More Wells in 2017.

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