The UK launches mature offshore round

Nearly 114,500 square kilometres in 813 mature blocks and part blocks in the North Sea are being offered in the UK’s 30th Offshore Licensing Round, the country’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) announced on Tuesday.

The round, which is based on a more flexible, newly-developed Innovate Licence, will close on November 21, 2017, and decisions are expected in Q2 2018, the statement added.

The OGA has released around 140 data packs with information on undeveloped discoveries included in the offering, in addition to maps of the Central North Sea and Moray Firth.

“The 30th Licensing Round offers companies a significant opportunity to rebuild their portfolios,” said Andy Samuel, CEO of OGA. “We are encouraging companies to take a fresh look at large areas of acreage, some of which has not been available since 1965, and make best use of the recently released information and new data packs to inform their applications.”

The round comes on the heels of the 29th Offshore Licensing Round, which took place in March and saw 25 licences for 111 blocks and part blocks awarded to 17 companies. In another supplementary round earlier this month, 12 licences were awarded to 10 companies.