Page 9 - Euroil Week 35 2019

EurOil POLICY EurOil
Norway attracts 33 bidders in latest offshore round
NORWAY
The round garnered less interest than previous ones.
NORWAY’S latest offshore licensing round for awards in prede ned areas (APA) has been hailed as a success by authorities, despite garner- ing less interest than contests in previous years.
Some 33 operators led bids in the round, which aims to spur development of more explored areas of the Norwegian shelf, the Nor- wegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on September 4. is compares to 38 bidders in the 2018 APA contest, and 37 in 2017.
The dip in enthusiasm came despite the round o ering up a record 90 blocks, seven more than in 2018. Some 48 of these blocks lie in the Barents Sea, with a further 37 in the Norwegian Sea and ve in the North Sea. e deadline for o ers passed on August 27.
Although fewer bids were collected, Norway’s petroleum minister Kjell-Borge Freiberg said the result demonstrated “high interest” among operators.
“Predictable and stable framework-condi- tions and an active licensing policy are two of the main pillars in the governments’ petroleum policy,” Freiberg commented. “We have contin- ued to expand the APA-area considerably based on professional advice. e high interest in the licensing rounds over the last few years shows that the NCS is competitive, and that the govern- ment’s petroleum policy has the desired e ect.”
According to the NPD, interest in the Barents and Norwegian seas was at a similar level to last year’s round, although there was a “small decline” in the North Sea.
e participants in the round ranged from major established players such as state-owned Equinor, US giant ConocoPhillips and France’s Total, to mid-sized independents like Aker BP, Lundin Norway, Wintershall Dea and DNO, and junior explorers including M Vest Energy and Lime Petroleum. Several relative newcomers to the shelf also took part, such as Chrysaor, Spirit Energy, Okea and Pandion Energy. RN Nordic Oil, a unit of Russia’s Rosne with no licences in Norway, also placed an o er.
APA rounds aim to repackage acreage that has previously been explored for fresh explora- tion. Since these areas were last explored, there may have been technological advances or expan- sions in infrastructure that make discoveries feasible that were once considered too remote or di cult to develop.
e need for greater exploration in Norway is clear, with national oil output falling by 10.9% yr/yr in July to 1.361mn barrels per day and gas production declining 9.8% to 307.4mn cubic metres per day.
Awards in the latest round will be handed out in early 2020. ™
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