In connection with the North Sea Awards 2002, 9 companies will receive an offer to participate in new production licenses. The companies will be offered participation in a total of 15 blocks or parts of blocks. In addition to the production licenses offered in the North Sea Awards 2002, Pertra will be offered additional acreage - which they applied for out of round - to their Varg-license.

- TheNorth SeaAwards 2002 is important for the long-term resource management in mature parts of the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The production licenses offered is a suitable combination of additional acreage to existing production licenses and licenses in areas where the companies want to explore new possibilities. The group of companies, which are offered licenses, is an interesting mix of relatively new participants on the Shelf and well established companies that have been here for many years. Against this background I am very satisfied with the licenses offered, says the Minister of Petroleum and Energy Einar Steensnæs.

The North Sea Awards 2002 was announced the 28 ^th> of October 2002, with a deadline for submission of applications on the 28 ^th> of January 2003.

11 new production licenses, including the additional acreage to Pertra, will be offered.

The following companies will be offered operatorship (number in parenthesis):

Norsk Hydro (2), ExxonMobil (2), Dong (2), Statoil (1), Norsk Agip (1), DNO (1), Pertra (1) and RWE Dea (1).

The following companies will be offered participation (number in parenthesis):

Paladin (3), Statoil (3), RWE Dea (1), Norsk Hydro (1), Norsk Agip (1), OER (1), DNO (1) and ExxonMobil (1).

The companies which are offered production licenses in the North Sea Awards 2002, are willing to commit to the North Sea and they will, in a creative way, contribute to further development of this part of the Continental Shelf, says the Minister Steensnæs.

See map (in pdf format)

North Sea Awards 2002: