New acrage in APA give new opportunitis in the north - announcement APA 2010

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy hereby announces Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2010. With this announcement prospective blocks for exploration activities in mature areas of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) are being made available to the industry.

-Regular acess to prospective acrage is key to ensure further acitivty on the Norwegian shelf. It is my pleasure to announce our annual licensing round in the mature areas today. We are undertaking the largest extension of the predefined areas since the establishment of the APA in 2003. The extensions are in accord with the managament plans and include areas in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. With this I hope we have laid a good fundation for new discoveries, new developments and new acitivities in the north, says the Minister of petroleum and energy Terje Riis-Johansen.

In APA 2010 the predefined area has been extended with a total of 63 blocks or part of blocks compared with the area in APA 2009. The predefined area in the Barents Sea is extended with 20 blocks or part of blocks, while the predefined area in the Norwegian Sea is extended with 43 blocks or part of blocks. The area announced in APA 2010 consists mainly of relinquised blocks where petroleum activities have ealier taken place. The announcement will provide new opportunities to all companies and contribute to a stable level of activity in the oil- and gasindustry.

“Awards in predefined areas” is the annual licensing round for awards in mature areas on the NCS, which was established in 2003. Together with the numbered rounds, which focus on frontier areas, the APA-rounds ensure that the companies maintain focus on all open areas on the NCS. The mature areas are the most explored areas on the NCS and have known geology, less technical challenge and well developed or planned infrastructure.

The purpose of the APA-rounds is to improve exploration activities in mature areas. The main challange in mature areas is linked to the fact that the expected size of discoveries is declining. Smaller discoveries can often not justify stand-alone developments, but can be highly profitable if they utilize existing infrastructure. It is therefore important to discover and develop these resources before existing infrastructure in connection to other fields are shut down. APA-rounds are an important instrument to ensure a stable level of activitety and employment in the whole industry.

The overall framework for petroleumsactivity is decided on by Parliament through the adoption of the management plans for each sea area. These apply for new awards in an area regardless of the areas are announced in the APA-rounds or in a numered licensing round. The established framework has been taken into account for the extension of the APA-area. Awards of new licens through APA 2010 will be in accordance with the framework set forth in the management plans.

The deadline for submission of applications is 12.00 am on 15. September 2010. Awards of new production licences is planned to take place late 2010 / early 2011.
Complete announcement, updated maps of available blocks, conditions related to environmental and fisheries interests and further information are available on the internet pages of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

Map over APA-2010