Nomination of blocks for the 20th licensing round

Mrs. Åslaug Haga, Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, has invited oil companies  to nominate blocks they think should be included in the 20th licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf. The invitations were sent to all owners of licenses on the shelf and pre-qualified companies.

- With the 20th licensing round I will make sure that the oil industry is given access to less explored frontier areas with potential for large discoveries. The licensing round will be an important contribution to discover the large remaing resources on the Norwegian Shelf. Also, this round will form a basis for long term value creation in the petroleum industry as well as considerable future state revenues, says Åslaug Haga, Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

The companies’ nominations will be an important part of the decision basis when the Ministry announces the 20th licensing round. This announcement is intended to take place before summer 2008. Awards of new production licenses are planned for spring 2009.

The deadline for nominations is noon, 15 January 2008.

The nominations may include areas already opened for petroleum activities in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and in the Barents Sea, with the exception of:

·         Areas already licensed
·         Areas included in the "Predefined areas" (APA)
·         Especially valuable areas in the Barents Sea; the polar front, the ice edge and Bear Island
·         The coastal areas of Troms and Finnmark
·         Eggakanten, Nordland VI, Nordland VII og Troms II

Read more about the expections in report no 8 (2005-2006) to the Storting ‘Integrated Management of the Marine Environment of the Barents Sea and the Sea Areas off the Lofoten Islands’